Jennie Marsland

I was born in Montreal and spent the first ten years of my life there, but my family's roots are in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley. I've lived on the Miramichi river in New Brunswick as well. I studied agriculture and then microbiology in university. I've worked as a lab technician and taught high school science for ten years. At nearly forty seven, I'm in the middle of a career change.

I've been making up stories for as long as I can remember. Writing and reading have been a lifelong love for me. Everyone has a tale to tell, and so few of them are ever told.

My favorite stories have always been about ordinary peoples' struggles and dreams - the same kinds of struggles that inspire my favorite music, by people like Stan and Garnet Rogers, James Keelaghan, Stephen Fearing, and Mary Chapin Carpenter, to name a few. Those are the kinds of stories I'm writing now, about people looking for  "a faith, a farm and a family", as John Denver said so well.

I've always been drawn to history, and I've often wished I lived in an earlier, simpler time. That's why I write historicals. They satisfy that longing in me. I hope my books will help satisfy that same longing in you.

I consider Nova Scotia the most beautiful place in the world. I live with my husband, Everett, our two cats, Patch and Emily, and our Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, Chance. I currently work in the insurance industry. When I'm not writing or working, I garden, play guitar, paint, cook, and serve the needs of the four-footed tyrants of the house.

Some random facts about me:

I love sushi, hate heights, have an atrocious memory and absolutely no sense of direction.

I treat my dog like a kid.

I met my husband by taking guitar lessons from him. When he stopped charging me, I knew I was in trouble.

Favorite authors (in no particular order): Lucy Maud Montgomery, Jane Austen, the Brontes, Zane Grey, Louis L'Amour, Pamela Clare, Diana Gabaldon, Debbie MaComber, Diane Palmer, Ayn Rand, Mary Stewart, Tolkien.

Favorite movies (again, in no particular order): The Lord of the Rings series, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, the old Pink Panther films, All Of Me  and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with Steve Martin