Sheila Gooddie is a writer and former teacher. She returned to study for an honours degree in English Language and Literature at Manchester University in the late 1970s; discovered a delight in research and became fascinated with the art and craft of biography. Her previous books include The Summers of Shotton, co-written with the late Brian Redhead, and Annie Horniman: A Pioneer in the Theatre. She stumbled upon Mary Gladstone by chance. Her curiosity deepened over years of research on this daughter, who alone amongst her four brothers and two sisters, became 'all-sufficing' to her father in his second term of office as Prime Minister in the 1880s, when Britain's influence extended into all corners of the world.