Linda Proud is best known for her novels set in Renaissance Italy. She was a freelance picture researcher before teaching creative writing to US students studying in Oxford, UK, which she did for twenty years, working mainly for Sarah Lawrence College. Her first novel, A Tabernacle for the Sun, won a bursary from Southern Arts and and a month’s residence at the writers’ retreat of Hawthornden Castle. It was published by Allison and Busby in 1997.

‘The Botticelli Trilogy’ has drawn praise from authors and academics as well as general readers, and is considered as best of its kind by many reviewers, including Lonely Planet Guide to Florence and Tuscany: ‘The historical detail in all three is exemplary, and each is a cracking good read.’ 

Currently she is working on her second novel set in Iron Age Britain. When she is not writing, she is gardening. She writes about both, and other things, in her blog but she invites you to sign up to her newsletter ‘Leaves from the Sibyl’s Cave’ via the link in the footer below.