Gabrielle Lord

Gabrielle Lord survived being 'razed' by the nuns, acquired an education despite this, and after working in many different areas - sales, teaching, brick-cleaning, peach-picking and packing, and in the Public Service as an employment officer - started writing seriously aged 30. Her first two manuscripts ended up composting the tomatoes at her market garden but the third, Fortress, was picked up internationally and made into a feature film starring Rachel Ward. A later novel, Whipping Boy, was made into a telemovie starring Sigrid Thornton. The film rights money, coinciding with her daughter leaving school, allowed Gabrielle to resign and instead of getting up at 4.30am and writing for several hours before heading off for work, she could write full-time and lead a more 'normal' writer's life - hanging around with scientists and detectives, badgering forensic anthropologists (she studied some Anatomy at Sydney university), doing work experience with a busy private security business and of course, writing. Research is everything, she says. 'Out of my contacts with experts (who are always far too modest to describe themselves that way) I get not only the fine-tuning necessary for today's savvy readers, but also wonderful incidents and images that enrich and enlarge my books.' Gabrielle's interests are very simple. Gabrielle has now written fourteen adult novels and a novel for young adults. Once the 12 books of Conspiracy 365 are completed, this tally will be a tad bigger! Following this mammoth endeavour she already has plans for another three adult novels and two more for young adults.