Belinda Bennett worked as a newspaper reporter for 32 years. She launched her career in the British newspaper industry at the Exeter Weekly News in 1983.
She went on to work for newspapers as a reporter across the South West of England, including the Sunday Independent, Bridport News and Chard and Ilminster News. But she is best known for her seven-year tenure as Editor of the hugely popular Midweek Herald, in East Devon, which covers her home town of Honiton.
During her varied career, she covered everything from parish council meetings to murders – once, two in one day – and was notorious for eating all the sandwiches at the monthly Honiton Chamber of Commerce gatherings.
Belinda retired from the newspaper industry to concentrate on creative writing two years ago. She had been working as a copy editor, crafting headlines for daily newspapers along the south coast, including the Bournemouth Echo.
An avid people-watcher, she is inspired by real life. Belinda never follows trends and each of her books is highly original.
Her first piece of fiction, about a magic china frog, was inspired by the BBC children’s television series Lizzie Dripping. It was considered by a major publisher when Belinda was just nine years old.
Teenage angst prompted further creative efforts but, after both her parents died when she was in her early twenties, she concentrated on journalism.
Belinda lives by the sea in Lyme Regis, Dorset, on the Jurassic Coast.
Hired Hands: Parts I and II
What would you do if you came home one day and discovered your parents had disappeared? Vanished. Who would you tell? Mandy's parents are missing, but she can't tell anyone. Not a soul.
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