About Mary-Anne
When asked about my life and how I started to write I often ask myself ‘what can I say?’ I have had a varied and interesting life, great experiences and fearful ones! Coming between a bull elephant and his herd would definitely fall into the latter category!
My latest novel ‘Dear George’ is based on my experience with cancer. All events that take place are based on what happened to me. The characters and events are fiction. ‘Dear George’ will make you cry. It will make you laugh. You’ll emphathise, you’ll sympathise, you’ll want to protect Paige, the young sixteen-year-old that has to fight for her life!
Please take this journey with Paige and I. You won’t regret it!
As I am South African by birth I am also passionate about the preservation of wildlife and the continent of Africa. Many teenagers have never had the opportunity to experience a game-drive or even view a wild animal in its natural habitat. Africa is not well known to the rest of the world and has a certain mystique and drama about it. I can offer my readers an opportunity to experience this amazing continent by allowing them to live and breathe Africa through the adventures of the four teenagers, Fern, Nao, Philemon and Sam, whom my books are based on and to open a world that does exist with its fables and myths that have been passed down by generations of storytelling. Even though my stories are fiction, my novels contain a wealth of information about animals, landscape and the differing cultures of Africa.
Although I am from Africa I now reside in the U.K. with my family. I started my career as a teacher and have taught children in Primary and Secondary schools. I had a business, teaching computer skills to students of all ages. My company gave me invaluable experience in dealing with a diverse range of cultures. Our entire aim was that we taught our pupils the necessary skills and literacy but that they had fun learning!
This was part of the reason I decided to write my first novel, the first of a planned series.
Steve and I
The second reason was that my husband has been nagging me for years to write a book; he recognised potential in me that I had never even considered!
My third reason presented me with the opportunity to begin writing. It is not an option I recommend but worked for me! I was diagnosed with cancer and couldn’t start my teaching job in the U.K. I underwent treatment for nine months, seven of those bald! My amazing family would not even support me by shaving their hair in sympathy for me. My darling husband even had the cheek to say ‘I love you, my darling, but not that much!!’
The second novel is currently being written and is about a street child that hears rumours of homeless people disappearing. The third is being researched at the moment and is entitled ‘Do or Die!’ This novel is about Somali pirates attacking the cruise-liner the teenagers are holidaying on and kidnapping them. I love writing about Africa and have other novels planned for this series.
Hi, I log оn to your blogs on a regular basіs. Your story-telling style is awesome, keep doing what yoս’re doing!
Thank you so much x
Thank you – such a lovely comment x
Hey! I ҝnow this is kind of off topic but I waѕ wondering
if you knew wheгe I coսⅼd find a caрtcha plᥙgin for my comment form?
I’m using the same blog platform as ʏours and I’m
havіng trouble finding one? Thanks a lot!
Hi, I always google any questions I have. So much info on the net. Good luck!
Yo iz wicked, yeah. Is there an arabic translation coming soonz? My home boyz in da hood of Dubai would lovz it… Peace allah.
The website looks fantastic, well done Mary-Anne. I shall certainly get my friends to view it.
Thanks Maureen. xxx
I want to see more videos of Fern, she is gorgeous, is she available? enjoy your writing, africa sounds awesome!
Hi Russell, she is beautiful! Sorry, not available!
Fantastic website Mary-Anne
Thanks Fergal, so good to be in touch again – have a wonderful Christmas!
cool books & great reading. when will they be available
Hopefully soon!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for your comment and your support. xx
Soon I hope x
love the website found by chance on google, keep writing
Thanks! xxx
came across website on google, great to see africa and her plight written so aptly
So great to hear that people are accessing my information on search engines. Thank you for your kind words and support!
A friend of mine spoke about Carmen & yr website want toread more
I’ll be updating soon with work from the third novel so keep a look-out! Thank you for your support. xx
enjoyable reading keep going yeah!
I’ll do that, thank you!
think your daughter is hot, great writing
I’m truly biased but she is gorgeous – you need to see my other daughter as well – both are beautiful!
well written, following you from texas
Thank you for your support! Wonderful to have a following now in Texas. xx
I’m from the UK. How do you find living here? Good writing.
I love the UK and the British people. We’ve been so blessed living here and have had opportunities we wouldn’t have had anywhere else. My husband is British and my mother was born in Hampshire. My father’s family were also from the U.K. so in a way, England is home away from home but is our permanent residence now.
I’m a mature reader and found myself absorbed by your writing. Are you planning any adult novels? Brilliant description by the way.
Thank you Richard. I’ve outlined a plot and will start my novel for adults soon!
wonderful, wonderful, wonderful
Thank you, so appreciate the support!
just saw the 2 video of fern reading from book wickid & funny when she talks bout the spider
She’s so funny – she often has us in stitches! As you’ll notice we had to cut and splice several times as I was laughing so much! Thank you for your support!
came across your website on google LOVE IT!
Thanks so much. xxxx
thanks for exposing the horrific poaching in Africa – hope you publish & make the world aware of what is happening to our wild animals.
I’ll definitely keep trying to make people aware of Africa’s plight – not just the slaughter of the animals but also the extreme poverty and suffering of her people. xx
love the youtube videos an cant wait to read books
Thank you! xx
I’m a mature man but read your website with interest. The presentation is superb and your stories are interesting. Africa is my life and as your previous reader commented we need the world to understand how quickly our wildlife are being depleted. I realise you had a warning on some of your blog videos about not watching the slaughter but my belief is everyone should watch and be made aware of how these animals are butchered and the agony they have to endure. I’m looking forward to reading more of your work.
Thank you for your kind comments about my website and writing. I do agree with you about our animals and definitely plan to plough finances back into Africa when my novels are published. Africa is the continent of extremes – extreme beauty and extreme violence and no matter what race, colour or creed, everyone falls victim to the latter!
Enjoy your work xx
Thank you so much! x
I came across your website when I googled info on Africa. I love your writing!!!! Where can I buy your books???
I hope to have some information shortly and promise to let everyone know soon. xx
I read your story tactical brutality with interest. I experienced a similar marriage. It was so real to me and cathartic when I shed tears. Thank you x
I’m touched that it made a difference to you. Thank you for letting me know. xx
where can i buy your books?
I’ll let you know, hopefully soon. Thank you so much for your interest.
luv yr work
Thank you. xx
Looked for ‘The Hunted’ and couldn’t find it???
As soon as it is available I’ll let you know! Thank you so much for the support. x
Pleeeeeese publish
Hopefully soon!
Hi Mary-Anne, fantastic website, will pass onto my friends.
Thank you Jeanette 🙂
Wow is all I can say…. Your sure write from your heart. The Hunted and Whisper of Death my fight with Faith are my favourite. Africa has a soul that you feel when reading the Hunted. Whisper of Death … Beautiful from your heart and love your honesty in that. Your Website is great too and so easy to wander through xx thanks Mary-Anne can’t wait for your books to be on the shelf
Thank you so much my dear friend – your support and confidence in me has made a huge difference!
Africa will always be our home in our blood – having been out of the country for 12 years I’ve enjoyed reading your novels.
Thank you Ruvey – they do say you can take the African out of Africa but never Africa out of the African – so true. x
I am so looking forward to your novels coming out,as a South African living in Johannesburg, when I read your extracts from the Hunted and Kill me please Sir, I feel those words. To date 9 September 2010, 127 Rhino have been slaughtered this year! The poaching of rhino and elephant in Africa right now is appaling, books like this will hightlight this plight. Sixpence, I see a Sixpence on every other corner in Johannesburg, glue their only comfort, my heart goes out to the Sixpences of the world. Well done Maryanne, love your work!
Gosh Kim, you feed-back is invaluable as you are living this each day! We definitely need the world to be aware of the loss of such amazing animals and the plight of the street children – it is so sad! xx
I really enjoyed listening to the extracts from the Hunted beautifully read by Carmen. I think you are a very talented Writer Mary-Anne. I will ask my friends to visit your website xxx
Thank you – it’s been interesting to get feed-back from different cultures! I based the character of ‘Fern’ on Carmen and a lot of the bush is explained from memory – we had timeshare and spent a week a year in a Gamelodge – adored it! x
It’s always great to read a book about “Africa”……once the African ways grab your heart they never leave…..thanks Mary-Anne for bringing a bit of the bush back into our lives…after reading “The Hunted” to my 2 boys and seeing how interested they were to hear about the culture as well as the adventure you took us all on…..can’t wait to read more…. it was a perfect way of bringing “home” to our homeschool curriculum!!
Thanks Amy – I’ll be sending the complete novel so your boys can read the end….I really appreciate you trying it out on them as interesting to see the response of a teenager and a 10 year old – thank you. xx
Well done Mary-Anne you write with such passion and really draw the reader into the story. Your stories about Africa are brilliant and one gets the feeling of being right there where it is all happening. I loved your stories about your own experiences as well and can see that your life is a journey with the Lord and that you really walk in faith. Best of luck with publishing may God’s blessings be poured out upon you and your writing be successful. Lots of luv sheila xxx
Thanks so much for you comments – I know how honest you are and so appreciate it!
Mary-Anne, you write from the heart, and it is a joy to read. I feel for Southern Africans who have left our wonderful continent as I could never do so – Africa has her own heartbeat which truly resonates with my soul, however you capture the essence and bring awareness to those who are not sufficiently blessed to experience Africa. Well done.
Thank you Bev – I love your phrase ‘Africa has her own heartbeat which truly resonates with your soul’ – inspirational! x
Once an African, always an African. We might not always understand why God allows certain trials and tests into our lives, except for us to grow spiritually, and become an inspiration to others, which you have clearly become. Keep writing with passion and heart!
Thank you Chantal – what would we do without Him! x
My daughter was reading your website and Fern’s blogs – I must say I’ve since been reading your extracts and your stories under ‘fly on the wall’. You said the one story ‘I’d rather drown’ is based on truth. It’s so difficult for us in Britain to imagine what that terror must be like. I hope she is okay now.
Hi Liz, yes she is okay now; still has a certain amount of fear but is a survivor as are all Africans!
We travelled to Africa in 1990 into Fothergill Isaland Zimbabwe, Zambia Nairobi Rwanda & loved it all. So look forward to reading your books.
Good to hear from you, thank you for your lovely comment! x
Hope I’ll be able to buy a copy in Phuket!
I hope so and soon! x
I would love to read it once it’s published.
Thank you! x
You are a very talented writer….. all the very best wishes for your success!!
Thanks so much Anna!
Glad to see you’re making your cancer story more public – shouldn’t be kept under a bushell!!
I agree Kim – so many have experienced the same disease and the biography is for those that haven’t overcome and for those that have! xx
I think I will pass out when I see the book on the shelves! What a day that will be, I will get drunk
We will both be on the floor my friend! x
Well done Mary-Anne the website is brilliant and the story excerpts encourage you to want to read more.
Thank you Margaret, the support of friends means so much. xx
i watched your youtube video and read some work from your book i’m african and was wondering why you used the zanzi tribe – i havent heard of them enjoy your writing, when can we buy the book in south africa?
Hi Bheka. I created the Zanzi tribe to encompass all the various tribes in Africa as a whole. I didn’t want to choose just one therefore thought it better to invent a name that would hopefully portray a bit of each tribe. I have also not chosen a particular part of Southern Africa but described scenes from various parts of our beautiful continent!
love your website! one of my friends told me about it and i cant wait to go to africa. i’m from the UK and it’s totally another world so very interesting
Very different from the UK – I love both countries!
A friend of mine viewed your website and told me about it. Enjoy your writing and am looking forward to more about Nao, Fern etc. Even though we have the outback its still extreme in difference to what you describe about africa.
Thanks Aaron – I’d love to see Australia and will visit some day – pleased you are enjoying the descriptions of Africa!
Please let me know where to buy your books – read your pdf’s and now want more!
I will as soon as I’m published! xx
I stay in Australia now but miss South Africa so much – love reading your work as I feel as if I’m back in the bush again – can literally smell it! Thank you x
Wow, you’ve made me feel amazing – would be great to meet you one day! I miss Africa and everything about it but am hoping that, once published, we’ll be able to plough finances back into South Africa, her people and her animals. xx
Love the website. Also look forward to reading your books. I think Africa continues to pulsate through our veins even though we don’t live there anymore. You seem bring the continent and it’s people alive to those who have never been & bring back nostalgic memories to those of us who have lived there 🙂
Thanks so much Deryl! Gosh, even when friends move away it’s so wonderful when you know that they are for life! Your support means the world to me! xxxx
I love your website, well done! I know that you’ll be published soon as you have the two main ingredients necessary, God and grit. You remind me of a bulldog, bite down and hold on until something happens. Keep up the good work. I love the blogs from Fern as well as the videos. God bless Mary-anne x
Thank you so much Tanya. I know that when I surround myself with ‘firelighters’, people that believe in my dream, I’m on the right track – so appreciate your comment! The bulldog comment, as long as it only reminds you of its bite and not its face! Lots of love xxxx
Mary-Anne, I bet your Dad was a wonderful man……………..I miss my Mom and Dad so much too. Thanks for all your beautiful messages of inspiration too, you’re a fantastic person and such an excellent story teller. I look forward to a year of a wonderful friendship with you and all my other friends. Have a goody and wishing you and your family all the God’s richest Blessings for 2011. Love you.
Hi Patti. Thank you so much for your support – I keep saying this but I truly couldn’t keep writing without the support of my family, friends, and newly acquired friends on the website and facebook! I hope that all your hopes and aspirations are realised in 2011. xxxxxxxxxxx
I’m suffering from cancer at the moment and have been so fortunate to have the sickness you did. It’s an inspiration to read how God protected you and how your friends supported you. You must be a great person.
I’m so sorry that you’re enduring that awful disease Mandy – will definitely be thinking of you during your trying time. I’m definitely not a great person, it was God’s grace and the wonderful people He surrounded me with that got me through that challenge in my life. He’ll get you through this dark time as well. xxx
love your website keep up the good word i live in california keep checking to see more writing
Lovely to have you visiting and so pleased that you are enjoying my writing. If you subscribe to my social media channels you’ll be updated as to new writing and blogs. xx
A friend of a friend mentioned your website. We stay in L.A. and want to visit Africa. Your descriptions bring it to life, well done.
Great to have you reading my work.Thanks so much for the support. xx
Excellent writing and can’t wait to read the novels. I’m from S.A. and went onto google to find writers from here and came to your website. I feel that you bring Africa to life for your readers and think that your description of Sixpence and his life of squalor on the streets is outstanding. It truly portrays the darker side of S.A.
Positive comments such as yours encourages me to keep on writing. Africa,as a whole, has an incredible need, not just in resources but in education. I think that has to be a priority so that her people can use their various skills to support themselves. I’ve also tried to show the wonderful side of this continent that is so rich with many amazing cultures, diverse landscape and also the incredible animal kingdom that is being wiped out rapidly.
Fantastic Mary-Anne, I remember your struggle so well with the cancer and your positive faith and belief in your recovery, definitely in for a book or two!
Thank you Lindsey!
We traveled to Africa in 1990 into Fothergill Isaland in Zimbabwe, Zambia Nairobi Rwanda & loved it all. So look forward to reading your books.
Thank you so much – I’m waiting in anticipation now as far as my novels are concerned! I have short stories under ‘Fly on the Wall’ if you feel like quick reads at the moment and have just added my first chapter of ‘Whisper of Death – My fight of Faith’. I appreciate your support!