Mavis Cheek was born and grew up in Wimbledon. She began her working life at Editions Alecto, the contemporary art publishers. She then attended Hillcroft College for Women from where she graduated in Arts. After her daughter Bella was born, she began her writing career in earnest; journalism and travel writing at first, then short stories, and eventually, in 1988, her novel Pause Between Acts , which won the She/John Menzies First Novel Prize. Her thirteen novels included Mrs Fytton's Country Life, Janice Gentle Gets Sexy and, most recently, Amenable Women, described in the Times as 'a brilliantly funny, warm, intelligent read'. She now lives and writes in the heart of the English countryside.