Linnou's life has been one of constant change; from her early years mainly in rural Norfolk during the last war; marriage to a regular soldier at the age of 20 and the ups and downs of Service life. Evacuated out of Egypt during the canal zone riots of 1951, followed by 3 years in Singapore, a tour in Ghana abruptly terminated in the 1960’s by Kwame Nkrumah. Each of her children being born in a different place. Divorced in her early 40's, with four children to support,an accident injury curtails life to survival on disability allowance and a small pension, nevertheless after a total of over sixty house moves she is now happily settled in in the south of France. As she says, “Life has been a patchwork of changing colours, some bright, some dark, but never boring,” – which aptly sums up the trilogy, The Patchwork Years, written as her memoirs, books 1 and 2 are available and book 3 is on it's way. In reviews, Linnou has been compared favourably with Catherine Cookson.