Hilary McElwaineHilary McElwaine was born in Horsham, West Sussex in 1972. She attended St Leonards-Mayfield School in East Sussex and went on to read French and Italian at Oxford. She spent a year living in Siena where she furthered her Italian studies, enjoying th art and architecture on offer throughout Tuscany. A highlight of life in Siena was the build-up to the Palio, a bareback horse race between the town's seventeen contrade around the central Piazza del Campo. On graduating, she spent ten years working in the City in investment banking until the arrival of her first children, twins who arrived ten weeks early. She wrote a book about her experience with prematurity and the proceeds went to support the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Neonatal Unit who looked after the twins for seven weeks while they were in intensive care. She dedicated herself to their early years and then qualified as a teacher of French and Italian, teaching in both primary and secondary schools for ten years. She lives in Wandsworth with her husband, Simon, and their three children, Ollie, Clarissa and Hugo. Read More Read Less