Mike Leonard

Mike Leonard was born in London and studied medicine at the University of Bristol, working for 3 years as a junior hospital doctor in a variety of specialties, before spending time travelling. He worked in Australia, Canada and for 2 years as the sole ship's doctor on a cruise ship in the mid 1980s, sailing mainly in the Mediterranean and Caribbean.

Having settled into his eventual 34 year long career in Family Medicine in Somerset, and looking back wistfully at his time at sea, he began writing A Certain Persuasion in 1995, around the time the novel is set.

The story went through various iterations and elaborations of plot up until early 1998, when it was placed in cold storage for the next 23 years while he got on with serious NHS work. It was revived earlier this year, now that he had time on his hands, and tweaked a little, ready for its long overdue debut.

Mike is married to Phyl, (his one-time ship's nurse) and enjoys family time, playing drums and percussion and property renovation, as well as spending as much time as he can at their holiday home in Corfu.