In pursuit of Eliza Cynster

Stephanie Laurens was born in the British colony of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. When she was 5, her family moved to Melbourne, Australia, where she was raised. After continuing through school and earning a Ph.D. in Biochemistry in Australia. Stephanie married, and the marriage moved to Great Britain, taking one of the last true overland journeys from Katmandu to London. Once in London, they began work as research scientists in Kent. They lived in an area surrounded by history. Their own cottage was built in the 16th century, while next door were the protected ruins of an early Roman villa, and nearby was a 14th century castle. After four years in England, the marriage returned to Australia, where she continued to work in cancer research, eventually heading her own research laboratory. One evening Stephanie realized that she did not have any more of her favorite romance novels to read. After years of thinking about writing her own novel, during nights and weekends for the next several months she began crafting her own story. That manuscript, "Tangled Reins", was the first of her books to be published in 1992 by Mills & Boon. After achieving a level of success with her novels, she "retired" from scientific research and became a full-time novelist. Her novels are primarily historical romances set in the British Regency time period. Stephanie and her husband live in a leafy bayside suburb of Melbourne with their two daughters, Stephanie and Lauren, and two cats, Shakespeare and Marlowe.