Born near Epsom in Surrey, Mary Withall spent some 30 years as a lecturer in various colleges of technology before retiring to Argyll where she began a new career as a writer. She was instrumental in setting up the Slate Islands Heritage Trust in 2000 an organisation for preserving the industrial heritage of the Slate Islands of Netherlorn and has published seven novels relating to the lives of the people engaged in the slate industry. Mary has also published three non-fiction works.
