A native of eastern Ontario, during her pre-school years, Melanie lived in a winterized cottage on the shore of the St Lawrence River. Prior to her starting school, her family moved to Brockville where she received her education, including a post–secondary degree in Computer Programming. Growing up as an only child, Melanie was an avid reader, and remains so to this day. It was through this love of the written word that she knew that one day she would become a writer. When she wasn’t talking about her dream of becoming an author, she wrote stories and began honing her skills at an early age. Melanie’s father was a Scottish national, who came to Canada as a ‘Home Child’ through the auspices of The Orphan Homes of Scotland. She promised herself that one day she would travel to her father’s homeland to see where he was born and raised. That first trip was in 1993 and she’s not looked back since, having returned to the “auld country” a further eight times.