Frances Brand lives in Shropshire, in the west of England among the glorious countryside of the Marches where a crow or raven can fly quickly over the border into Wales. She gave up a career in journalism to open her hilltop home as a bed and breakfast and gain more freedom and time to write. Her last job was editing a farming newspaper, working closely with farmers and others involved in agriculture which revealed the problems and vicissitudes of 21st-century farming. She lives a comparatively old-fashioned way of life, in touch with the natural world which so many people have left behind. She has an intense passion for nature and the countryside and her writing often reflects the power of the elements. She says people don't expect a guest house owner to be a writer - or the other way round but it often gives an interesting insight into human behaviour and can touch off many trains of thought. There are some guests who spark immediate empathy while others sometimes just don't get the place at all. She leads a busy life with dogs and horses to care for.