Biographical note

Catherine Butler was born in Hampshire, where she grew up in a small market town near the New Forest. As a child, she spent most of her time wandering woods, trying to learn musical instruments, and learning about myths. She also loved reading ghost stories (both fictional and real) and scaring herself silly. For the last 23 years Catherine has lived in Bristol, where she teaches English at a local university. She has two teenage children, one cat, and is still trying to learn the piano. As well as writing books for children and young adults, Catherine writes books about children's books. Some people think her obsessed. She has many opinions, and is a regular contributor to the Awfully Big Blog Adventure (awfullybigblogadventure.blogspot.com). Catherine's books (most of them published under the name Charles Butler) are fantasies, but they are fantasies set in our own world - or in worlds set at a slight, disconcerting angle to our own. They include Calypso Dreaming, The Fetch of Mardy Watt, Death of a Ghost and The Lurkers.