Born and raised in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, in the year Harold Macmillan said ‘we never had it so good,’ that was certainly my take on things as a kid growing up in the 60s. Always a coal fire ablaze in the hearth, smoking chimneys, great home cooking and nothing more to worry about than itchy balaclavas and Tuf shoes that were impossible to wear out. And joy of joys, stories everywhere: in the books borrowed from the local library, old action movies on the rented TV and the occasional treasured visit to the cinema. On my first holiday ‘abroad,’ beyond the boundaries of Yorkshire, I found myself at the age of ten on a school trip to the Lake District. Remembering still, how this landscape, green, wet and mesmerizingly beautiful, had a profound effect upon me, it is perhaps no surprise that I have spent more than half of my life living and working in Scotland. On moving from the West Coast to Perthshire, I initially worked as a Regulation Analyst in the energy sector, but when the opportunity presented itself, I headed off to study English and History at the University of Dundee. With an MA in English and a MLitt in Women, Culture and Society under my belt, and the necessity to earn a crust again, I finally left that glorious bubble of learning. Fast forward another decade or so, add a Diploma in Life Coaching and Neuro Linguistic Programming, and at last it would seem that I am doing what I truly believe I was meant to do – which is to write. As a multi-genre writer I am currently writing fiction (historical and fantasy) and non-fiction (self-coaching and wellness). My debut novel Siege of the Northland is Book 1 in The Northland Series - an action-packed fantasy adventure, which tells the story of a fearless young warrior called Jesyka: the Northland’s one true heir of the ancient Tribe of Skea. AVAILABLE on Amazon UK http://bit.ly/AmRuth Available on Amazon US http://bit.ly/USRuth AND all good bookstores http://www.ruthrathband.com Twitter: @RuthRathband