Born and brought up in Yorkshire, educated in Scotland, Catharine also lived in Cambridge and London before moving to Lusaka, Zambia. She is a fully qualified accountant, married with two children and currently lives near Manchester. In her spare time she enjoys playing the cello, watching cricket, preaching and winning at board games, but not all at once.
The overwhelming need to share the stories of her time in Zambia, combined with a short-term posting and both children finally being at school, made Catharine take up writing. Initially, she thought the book would be written and published by Christmas… but she quickly learnt that it is not a quick or easy process. Her first volume of memoir, In the Shade of the Mulberry Tree, was published in 2013 and was short-listed for the Self-Publisher of the Year Award 2014. The sequel, Beware the Falling Avocados, was published in 2016.