Janet MacLeod Trotter

British author Janet MacLeod Trotter has had 24 books published, 19 of them historical family dramas. Her India-set novels, such as THE RAJ HOTEL SERIES, were inspired by the discovery of a treasure-trove of long-lost family diaries, letters and cine films left by her grandparents who had lived and worked in Northern India from the 1920s to the '50s. 'Reading their frank and intimate words brought my grandparents vividly and poignantly alive for me, long after their deaths.' Janet first went to India herself on an overland bus at the age of 18, eager to see the land where her grandfather had been a forester and her mother had spent her childhood. Her INDIA TEA SERIES, set in Britain and India, has proved hugely popular. THE TEA PLANTER'S DAUGHTER (the first in the series) was nominated for the RNA Romantic Novel of the Year and was an Amazon top ten best seller. It has gone on to be a best-seller in translation, including in Russian, French, Italian and Spanish. Janet's second novel in THE INDIA TEA SERIES, THE TEA PLANTER'S BRIDE is set in 1920's Scotland and India was particularly influenced by her grandparents' depiction of life in the Punjab (they married in Lahore) and the Himalayan foothills where they trekked. 'Even my mother, as a small baby,' said Janet, 'was hoist in a pram on poles and carried with the rest of the baggage!' The third novel in the series, GIRL FROM THE TEA GARDEN, follows the family into the Second World War - some of it was inspired by a more recent trip to the foothills of the Himalayas to discover where Janet's mother had lived as a child. The fourth and final novel, SECRETS OF THE TEA GARDEN, is set in the dying days of the British Raj and Indian Independence. Speaking of her new series, THE RAJ HOTEL, Janet says, 'I have returned to the Punjab where my grandparents began married life for the setting of THE EMERALD AFFAIR - from the glamour of Rawalpindi's garrison town to the lawless tribal areas of the North West Frontier. And in the follow-up novel, THE SAPPHIRE CHILD, the action also takes place in Kashmir - a place that captured my heart as an eighteen year old!' Janet's storytelling has brought recognition: her first historical novel, THE HUNGRY HILLS, was nominated for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, while IN THE FAR PASHMINA MOUNTAINS was shortlisted for the RNA Historical Romantic Novel of 2019. She has written for teenagers and numerous short stories for women's magazines, some of which are published in an ebook anthology ICE CREAM SUMMER. She has been a columnist and reviewer for The Newcastle Journal and editor of The Clan MacLeod Magazine. Her childhood memoirs of Durham and Skye in the 1960's, BEATLES & CHIEFS, was featured on BBC Radio 4's Home Truths. She is a member of the Romantic Novelists' Association and The Society of Authors. Find out more about Janet and her novels at www.janetmacleodtrotter.com