Michael Burr

MJ Burr writes historical fiction because ‘Treasure Island’ is the first book he can remember in a childhood dogged by ill-health and accident, so reading played a big part in it. “Robert Louis Stevenson took me away from pain, discomfort, and boredom and introduced me to rich and memorable characters,” he notes, “so I’d be thrilled to think I had done the same for anyone else.”

Convinced that real History is about real people in real situations, and that truth is often stranger than fiction, his carefully-researched stories revolve around a framework of actual events and feature actual people within them. Why waste an existing and glorious canvas?

Now in retirement, and in no particular order of preference, he writes, turns wood, listens to music, and caravans the beautiful New Zealand landscape with wife Yvonne and an attack-trained miniature poodle named Coco.