Cheryl Sawyer first felt the drive to write historical fiction while working at the Château de Breteuil, south of Paris. This heritage masterpiece was so beautiful that it was only too tempting to conjure up the real people, from marquise or duke to maid or footman, whose daily and dramatic encounters filled the place with vibrant life.

Since then, the eighteenth century in France, England and America has inspired her to write twelve historical novels, published in several languages. Her main career has been in publishing but her experience is eclectic. She has been a bartender in Essex; teacher of English in France and Italy; freelance editor of The Bone People by Keri Hulme, winner of the 1985 Booker Prize; translator of journals by eighteenth-century French explorers in the Pacific; food and wine writer for Better Business magazine in New Zealand; publishing manager for Reader’s Digest Select Editions and opera reviewer for the Australian Jewish News. Her books have been longlisted for awards by the Historical Novel Society in the UK and the American Library in Paris.

In 2025, while visiting the Marquis de Breteuil once again, Cheryl found the same magic within the château’s majestic walls. She is now writing full-time in a beachside town north of Sydney, but she continues to delve first-hand into the most distinctive and intriguing corners of history in Europe, the UK and the United States.

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