Melanie Clegg

Melanie Clegg is a pink haired art history graduate, casual historian, GIN taster, lapsed goth, failed Parisienne, Versailles obsessive, proud Ripperologist, Georgette Heyer fanatic and Victorian Prostitute re-enactor who lives in deepest darkest Somerset with her family but would rather be in either Whitechapel or Paris.

Meticulously researched and elegantly crafted,'The Secret Diary of a Princess' is her first novel and was born from a desire to tell the story of Marie Antoinette from an unusual and yet still fascinating angle, focusing on her early life at the Viennese court, the machinations behind her betrothal to the Dauphin Louis and then finally her initial impressions of her new home, Versailles. All told by Marie Antoinette herself as she grows from an enchanting, wilful child into a poised and beautiful young woman.

Melanie's second book, 'Blood Sisters', a sweeping and dramatic saga set during the turbulent years of the French Revolution follows the fortunes of a trio of aristocratic sisters who are caught up in the Revolution while trying to discover the truth about their past.

Her third novel, 'Before The Storm', an epic tale of love, ambition and betrayal set in eighteenth century London and Paris and is based on The Buccaneers by Edith Wharton.

She's currently working on a sequel to The Secret Diary of a Princess and also on books about the Ripper murders in 1888 and Minette, the sister of Charles II.

You can find out more by visiting Melanie's popular art, history and writing blog at www.madameguillotine.org.uk.