Merryn had a ‘forces childhood’ with spells in Malaya and Germany, yet she felt Cornwall was her home and her greatest influence. After travelling overland to Kathmandu she worked as a physiotherapist in Cornwall and London. In 1974 she married Alex Fergusson, a farmer and later a member of the Scottish parliament in South West Scotland.

On Alex’s death in 2018 she moved to London to be near two of her sons and their families. Her first book, ‘What is Wrong with Me’, described their teenage son’s recovery from ME.

The Lonely Impulse is her third novel.