HER career as a history teacher served Anne O’Brien well when it came to embarking on the second career that coincided with her move to Herefordshire.

Now an established author of historical romances for Mills & Boon – her eighth, Chosen for the Marriage Bed, was published this month – Anne had little idea that becoming a novelist was just around the corner “I always thought I’d like to write and I started by writing a few short stories and had some success with them and won some local prizes. That made me look at it more seriously. When we moved, my husband said ‘Now is your chance. See if you can.’ So I did.

“I decided I wanted to write something historical and tried a Regency romance, not knowing whether it would get anywhere.

“As Mills & Boon had jointly run (with the Yorkshire Post) the competition I won to write a love story in 400 words, they seemed an obvious publisher to approach.”

They accepted it. “I rewrote bits and got lots of good tips, and since then they’ve been happy to invite me to write for them.”

Anne and her husband George moved from Beverley in Yorkshire’s East Riding eight years ago.

“It would have been very easy to stay there but we thought that perhaps it would be exciting to move and do something a little bit different.”

After weekends spent sussing out different areas, Anne and George settled on The Marches, moving to a cottage just outside Pembridge.

“The rural experience has lived up to expectations,” says Anne who, with George, has created a glorious garden in the eight short years they’ve lived there.

The move has also had the added bonus of providing Anne with plenty of inspiration for her historical fiction: “Ideas are easy to pick up around here,” she says. “That’s why this one is medieval and the last one was based on Clifford Castle.”

Anne, whose Mills & Boon titles are translated into several languages, is excited to be moving into the mainstream with her next novel, which will be published by Mira.

Chosen for the Marriage Bed by Anne O’Brien is published by Mills & Boon.