Angela McLeod spent many years with her husband in the Far East, where their four children were born. Research on Frances Walsingham began in Tokyo and was completed after their return to England. Since then, Angela has worked for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, the National Gardens Scheme and, primarily, the Motor Neurone Disease Association. She now lives on an island off the coast of Scotland. Reading Lytton Strachey's "Elizabeth and Essex" originally sparked an interest in Frances Walsingham and the belief that she was worth searching for; also that she could not have been the passive, child-bearing wife history seems to have made her. One passage near the end of Strachey's book brings her to light: "A letter of thanks to Cecil gives us a momentary glimpse of the most mysterious of the personages in this tragic history. A shrouded figure, moving dubiously on "THAT BRILLIANTLY LIGHTED STAGE", Frances Walsingham remains utterly unknown to us. We can only guess, according to our fancy, at some rare beauty, some sovereign charm - and at one thing more; a superabundant vitality. For two years later, the widow of Sidney and Essex was married for the third time - to the Earl of Clanricarde." Research was done through the British Library, University of East Anglia, University of Glasgow, and a course with the Open University, with visits to houses and churches associated with the story.