MEET RUTH:

Like my partner Shan, I left school at 16 with no thoughts of college or university. I never imagined I would one day be writing children’s books and running my own publishing company. I like to think I’m a great advertisement for “learning on the job”!

After years working as a florist, my first job in publishing was in telesales in the early 1990s, selling children’s history books to museums, castles and other tourist attractions. This was followed by being a sales rep out on the road visiting book shops around the UK, working as an editor, a managing editor and eventually a publishing director before going freelance as a writer and book packager in 2008.

I will forever be grateful that when I suggested to my friend Shan that we work together she said, Yes! Starting our own publishing company has been hard work, but getting the chance to work with Shan and share the excitement of building our business has been a fantastic experience.

I’ve written hundreds of children’s books for wonderful publishers in the UK and USA, but am now loving working on our own books for Ruby.

I live with my husband Steve in a cottage in the middle of the Lost Gardens of Heligan on the south Cornwall coast. Surrounded by beautiful gardens and woodland, it’s the perfect place for walking, thinking and being creative.

When I’m not working, I’m an obsessive gardener! I also enjoy walking, cooking, scanning the Cornish beaches for pieces of beach glass (which are all saved in jars around my home for some far off future craft project) and I’ve recently rediscovered my love of ballet. (Although it turns out that ballet at 53 is A LOT harder than it was when I was 15 and last took classes.)

My office at Heligan is the Cornish branch of Ruby Tuesday and I share the tiny, packed space with my three cats, Aitchie, Bessie and Tash (named for her fantastic white moustache).