The author is a lifelong chronicler of personal, local and wider events, and a writer of articles for various magazines. In working on 'Coming out of my shell', she has been able to combine her love of writing with her love of the animals she's known and her interest in their interaction with humans. So she was delighted when it became apparent that Jerry, the independently-minded tortoise with whom she was fortunate enough to live for many years, would need a literary assistant in chronicling his own busy life (busy in tortoise terms, that is). This naturally involved Jerry's story of his relationship with the various 'bipeds' he's met along the way. But now that Jerry no longer needs a secretary - having completed his memoirs and, indeed, moved on to pastures new - the author is finally planning to write a book of her very own. Living in a flat in Eastbourne, she enjoys a view of the sea whenever she looks up from her desk, on which stands a treasured photo of her chelonian friend and the true inspiration for this book; Jerry the Tortoise.