Natasha Oakley

At primary school, Natasha Oakley wrote that she wanted to be an author when she grew up. It seemed like a good idea at the time - she liked books and didn't want to leave home. But at 14 she discovered theater. It quickly became a passion and, for some time, she forgot all about writing and immersed herself in Shakespeare, Ibsen and Chekhov.

After graduating from the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, one of London's top drama schools, Natasha started working under her Equity name of Jessica Dean. The birth of her first son changed her priorities. Natasha didn't want to leave home again.

She began writing as a "creative displacement activity" when her fifth child started sleeping through the night. 60,000 words later she'd created some fantastic characters and a book with no plot at all. Terrible though it was, the ambition to be an author was reborn. Since Natasha has a tendency to flick through novels to check if it has a happy ending, it was easy to decide the kind of stories she wanted to write.

Her second submission to Mills & Boon was accepted in December 2003. She lives in Bedfordshire with her husband and five children. Her house is in a constant state of disarray, but she makes great cakes, writes books and no one seems to mind.