Penny Jordan

Penelope "Penny" Halsall (née Jones; 24 November 1946 – 31 December 2011) was a best-selling and prolific English writer of over 200 romance novels. She started writing regency romances as Caroline Courtney, and wrote contemporary romances as Penny Jordan and historical romances as Annie Groves (her mother's maiden name). She also wrote novels as Melinda Wright and Lydia Hitchcock. Her books have sold over 70 million copies worldwide and been translated into many languages.

Biography

Personal life

Penelope Jones was born on 24 November 1946 in Preston, Lancashire, the eldest of three children born to Anthony Winn Jones and his wife, Margaret Louise (née Groves), She had a brother, Anthony, and a sister, Prudence. A keen reader from childhood, her mother would leave her in the children's section of the local library while she changed her father's library books. Her story-telling career began at the age of eight when she began telling original bedtime stories to her younger sister. Her favourite books were those of Jane Austen, Dorothy Dunnett, Catherine Cookson, Georgette Heyer, Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare's plays and poetry and the Bible. After reading a serialised Mills & Boon book in a woman's magazine, she fell in love with the hero. Jones was eleven and she quickly became an avid fan. Jones left grammar school in Rochdale with O-Levels in English Language, English Literature and Geography. In her early days, she spent fourteen years working as a shorthand typist in Manchester.

Halsall

Coordinates: 53°35′02″N 2°57′11″W / 53.584°N 2.953°W / 53.584; -2.953

Halsall is a village and civil parish in West Lancashire, England, located close to Ormskirk on the A5147 and Leeds and Liverpool Canal. As of 2011, the parish has a population of 2,057 and covers an area of 2,801 hectares (28.01 km²; 10.81 sq mi). The church and much of the village stand on a rocky ridge, in marked contrast to the low-lying flat peat mossland between the ridge and the sand of Ainsdale and Birkdale.

In Halsall there is one church dedicated to St. Cuthbert, which dates from the 14th century, the Rector is the Rev. Paul Robinson. There is a junior school, St Cuthbert's Church of England Primary School with around 140 pupils from age 4 to 11. The Saracen's Head is a large public house on the banks of the canal. There is also a post office, a garage, a financial adviser office (in what used to be the Halsall Arms public house) and a phone box. Halsall now has a pharmacy, situated by the playing fields. The central feature in the village is the war memorial located in front of the church on what is now a traffic island.

Halsall (surname)

Halsall is a toponymic surname of English origin, derived from the village of Halsall in Lancashire.

Notable people with this surname include:

Halsall (disambiguation)

Halsall is a village in Lancashire, England.

Halsall may also refer to:

See also