Christina Courtenay lives in Herefordshire in the UK and is married with two children. Although born in England she has a Swedish mother and was brought up in Sweden. In her teens, the family moved to Japan where she had the opportunity to travel extensively in the Far East. Christina is chairman of the UK's Romantic Novelists' Association (RNA). She won their Elizabeth Goudge Trophy for a historical short story in 2001 and the Katie Fforde Bursary for a promising new writer in 2006.Her novels have been shortlisted for and won several awards - 'Trade Winds' (Sept 2010) was short listed in 2011 for the RNA's Award for Best Historical Fiction, 'The Scarlet Kimono' won the Big Red Reads Best Historical Fiction Award the same year, 'Highland Storms' won the Best Historical Romantic Novel of the year award (RoNA) in 2012, 'The Silent Touch of Shadows' was shortlisted for the 2013 RoNAs (Historical) and won the Festival of Romance Award for Best Historical. 'The Gilded Fan' won the RoNA for Best Historical 2014. 'The Secret Kiss of Darkness' (time slip) is her latest novel, and the sequel 'The Soft Whisper of Dreams' is available as an ebook. As well as her novels, Christina has had four Regency novellas published, all available in Large Print and three of them on Kindle (individually or as a collection).When she's not writing, she spends her time tracking down elusive ancestors for her family tree, and her other hobbies include archaeology (the armchair variety), listening to loud rock music and collecting things.Website - www.christinacourtenay.comFollow Christina on Twitter - www.twitter.com/PiaCCourtenay