“The Goddess of Love changed everything.....”
Sarah Catherine Knights was born in 1953 in Chelmsford, Essex and lived her early life in the Surrey Hills. She studied English Literature at Birmingham University and then completed a PGCE year to teach English and History.
Life somehow overtook her – she married in 1976 and found herself living in the wilds of Scotland, as her husband was an RAF Officer and was posted to RAF Kinloss for three years. She was unable to get a teaching job and so looked after horses instead.
Having then been posted down to Lincolnshire, Sarah combined having three children with some part time teaching. The family were then sent to Wiltshire and this is where they put down their roots, buying a house in the idyllic market town of Malmesbury.
They had to leave the house for three years when they were posted to RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus and this experience was the inspiration for Sarah's debut novel, Aphrodite's Child and its sequel, Now Is All There Is. She was always sure there was a good story to be told about the life on the Air Force station; in many ways it was a fantastic posting but it had its dramas and problems. Almost immediately after their return to the family home, she started working on her idea but she also started a second career in photography, setting up a portrait studio and getting a reputation in the local area for her landscapes. The beginning of the novel lay festering at the bottom of a drawer for many years.
It wasn't until she did an MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University in October 2012, that she started working seriously on the story. The course released a torrent of writing, with the novel jumping onto the page; Sarah produced thousands of words a day. At the same time, she also wrote numerous short stories – she intends to release them as a collection, next year.
Sarah and her husband still live in Malmesbury today; their three children have now left to pursue careers in London and Brighton. Sarah and her husband rattle around the house with Juno, the black Labrador. Her husband has now retired and enjoys all his newfound spare time. Sarah, however, feels as if she's only just found out what she loves doing best and has no intention of stopping now.
Sarah is in a unique position to write a book based in Cyprus; not only did she live on the island for three years during the early nineties, but she also visits the island regularly as they own a villa between Paphos and Lemesos.
Her love of photography has helped her visualise the places and scenes. Whenever she visits the island, she takes thousands of photos and recently has been taking shots that have particular relevance to the book. Do look at The Gallery to see all the places Emily, the protagonist of the novel, visits during the course of the story.
Sarah let her imagination run away with her in the writing of the book – the characters are all fictional, as are the events portrayed. Any likeness to real people or events is purely accidental. The places, however, are real.
She would like to thank her husband for his love and support; her children, for their support and endless patience and Juno, for being her constant companion.