I love to write children’s adventure stories. Being a bit of an old adventurer and explorer at heart myself, you will see that my books are pretty much down to earth, true to life, exciting and realistic … that means no wizards, no goblins and no magic spells, I’m afraid, just good, old,  exciting stuff that we can all relate to.

When you write a book, people sometimes ask all types of questions, such as how you decide on the plot, how you develop the story, the location, etc, but I was recently asked a very interesting question from a mother who had read The Obsidian mask with her daughter. “How do you know what the children’s characters are going to be like, do you plan them all before you begin to write the book?”

 This was a stumper, as I had to try to explain, without sounding too weird, that they were all already there; I didnt have to develop them at all. They just had to be put down on paper. I never thought about creating their characters, it was as if I had known the children all my life. I really didn’t have to create a thing! They were all alive and kicking in my mind, just waiting to be put in the book. 

The series involves four young teens. (Well three, actually, Gabriella is almost thirteen, but I count her anyway.) Each book is set in a different part of the world, as their parents are archaeologists. In their first adventure, The Obsidian Mask, we meet Natasha and Alex who have flown from London, to a Middle Eastern dig to join their mother for the holidays, as she is working with a team who have just discovered the tomb of an ancient Mesopotamian warrior Queen. Pretty interesting stuff in itself you might think, as we learn with Natasha and Alex little about the Queen, the workings of the dig and why the Queen's city disappeared beneath the sands.  But while they are there, Natasha and Alex meet up with  two Italians, Gabriella and Lorenzo, also brother and sister, who they really don’t like too much for reasons you will find out, but they are all suddenly thrown together under quite unexpected, dangerous  circumstances and their first exciting tale begins…

I hope you enjoy their adventures, each book is set on in a different historical part of the world, so you will find out with Natasha and Alex, Gabriella and Lorenzo, some very cool things, and why Marcello, the director of each dig, is excavating there and why it is so important to preserve ancient sites. The second book, Secrets of the River, is based in Italy, and the four visit the site of a pile of sunken ships buried in layers, under the railway station in Pisa. But that's only the beginning... they inadvertantly uncover something much more recent and closer to home that they perhaps should have left alone...


 I will be posting ‘sneak peeks’ of all three books, which can be little tricky, as I don’t really want to give too much away so as to spoil it for you, but I think you can handle it! 

Please feel free to ask questions and write to me!

Caroline 

P.S. For every copy of  The Obsidian Mask  sold, a tree will be planted to replace the one that was chopped down to make it. Together we will doing a great thing for the environment. Thats pretty cool!