Janna Hoag was raised in Liverpool by relatives not dissimilar to the Addams Family. She left art school to double as a hand and foot model for catalogues at the studio where she worked as a graphic artist.

At home with young children she began freelancing, writing for comics, women’s and teen magazines; doing a stint as agony aunt on one of them. Later she ran art and drama groups and had thirteen children’s books published.

A Little Palace was her first novel, published by Commonword in 2000.