Trained as an oral surgeon, Stephen practised in an NHS maxilla-facial unit for nearly 20 years. Alongside his clinical work, he pursued his love of music, gaining a diploma in performance studies at the Birmingham Conservatoire. He went on to sing principal roles for Mid-Wales Opera, Scottish Opera and English National Opera. Now retired from clinical practice, he is able to pursue a lifelong love of the written word, this being his debut novel. He lives in Bollington with his sculptor wife, Jane, and now enjoys an extended family with two children of his own, two stepchildren, and three grandchildren. A keen rock climber and mountaineer in his youth, Stephen still enjoys forays into the fells and moors surrounding their home on the western edge of the Peak District.