My career to date has been somewhat eclectic, spanning the highs and lows of (among other things): tatty picking on the north east coast of Scotland while still at school (very lucrative but back-breaking); a spell as a cook on the night shift in the canteen of the berry canning factory (I wasn’t asked back after I made the custard with salt); the sleep deprivation of a junior doctor in Glasgow; a stint in Top Shop one Christmas where I was banned from operating the till; and the thrills and spills (quite a few spills) of research science in Oxford, London and Glasgow (I probably know more than is healthy about the malaria parasite). I can’t tell my left from my right and I have the singing voice of a tortured cat which somewhat thwarted my ambitions to be a rock star surgeon. I find myself amusing and think maybe my sisters do too but I suspect that is where it ends.

Recently I added a collection of creative writing qualifications to my CV to indulge my passion for writing and feed my craving for academia, and which had the very happy consequence of finally making me take my writing seriously.

The Backstreets of Purgatory is my first novel.

You can follow me on twitter @TaylorHelen_M or check out my blog at helenmtaylor.com