Penny Vincenzi, who died in 2018, was one of the UK's best-loved and most popular authors, known for her epic period and contemporary novels. After her debut, Old Sins, was first published in 1989, she went on to write sixteen more bestselling novels and two collections of stories. She began her career as a junior secretary for Vogue magazine and went on to work at The Daily Mirror, Tatler, and later as a journalist and editor on magazines such as Woman's Own and Cosmopolitan. Over seven million copies of Penny Vincenzi's books have been sold worldwide and she is universally held to be the 'doyenne of the modern blockbuster' (Glamour).