J. L. spent her formative years on military air bases in Europe and at her grandparent’s house on the outskirts of London. It was there, roaming the surrounding woods, parks, streams, and ponds—quiet places, mystical and old—that the seeds of her imaginative stories took hold. In her musings, she conjured magical ports to other worlds, where fairies, water babies and enchanted creatures lived. The forest-dwelling of the Womara is a reflection of her deep love of all things green. She now lives in California on the Monterey Peninsula.