Born the thirteenth child of fifteen to a middle-class mother and an East End barrow boy, Mary Wood's childhood was a mixture of love and poverty. Throughout her life Mary has held various posts in catering and office roles, and in the Probation services while bringing up her four children. Mary now has numerous grandchildren, step grandchildren and great-grandchildren. An avid reader, she first put pen to paper in 1989 whilst nursing her mother through her last months, but didn't become successful until she began self publishing her novels in 2011. Her novels include An Unbreakable Bond, Proud of You, To Catch a Dream and In Their Mother's Footsteps.