Hailing from the historic town of Musselburgh, six miles from Edinburgh, Scottish writer Marie Macpherson was brought up on the site of the Battle of Pinkie and within sight of Fa’side Castle where tales and legends from the past haunted her imagination. Inspired by the film Dr. Zhivago to read the works of the Russian literary giants in the original, she left the Honest Toun to study Russian at Strathclyde University. She spent a year in the former Soviet Union to research her PhD thesis on the 19th century Russian writer Mikhail Lermontov, said to be descended from the poet and seer, Thomas the Rhymer. Though travelled widely, teaching languages and literature from Madrid to Moscow, she has never lost her enthusiasm for the rich history and culture of her native Scotland. Having taken early retirement, she has found her niche in writing historical fiction which combines her academic’s love of research with a passion for storytelling. Her inspiration comes not only from historical records and documents but also from the landscape of the Scottish lowlands where she attempts to conjure up what life was like for the inhabitants of those now ruined castles and deserted abbeys. Exploring the personal relationships and often hidden motivations of historical characters drive her curiosity.The Knox Trilogy is a fictional biography of the fiery reformer, John Knox, set during the  16 th Century Scottish Reformation Prizes and awards include the Martha Hamilton Prize for Creative Writing from Edinburgh University and Writer of the Year 2011 awarded by Tyne & Esk Writers.She is a member of the Historical Writers' Association (HWA), the Historical Novel Society (HNS) and the Society of Authors (SoA)