Rachel Sweasey

Rachel was born to English 10-pound-pom parents in sub-tropical Brisbane, Australia, and when the family moved back to Poole, Dorset, she was just 5 years old. She then grew up against the stunning backdrop of Poole Harbour where she sailed and plyed on the beaches of Brownsea Island and Studland, and walked across the Purbeck Hills, all of which inspired her imagination and provided the setting of her debut historical fiction novel set in WWII.

Rachel’s first husband, a Poole RNLI lifeboatman, died in a diving accident in 1992. Rachel married her second husband in 1996 and they moved to Brisbane where they raised their three children. Rachel studied for a BA in Literature and worked in publishing as an editor before writing her first novel. She is almost a Secondary English and History teacher and is writing the second of three books contracted by Boldwood – all of which feature WWII and Poole.