Sheila Walsh was born in Birmingham, England on October 10, 1928. She attended the Southport College of Art from 1945 to 1948. Before becoming a full-time author, she worked in her husband's family jewelry store. She joined the Southport Writers' Circle in 1971. Her first book, The Golden Songbird, won the Netta Muskett award for new writers from the Romantic Novelists' Association. She wrote 25 romance novels during her lifetime including A Highly Respectable Marriage, which won the Elizabeth Goudge award, and Remember Me. She also wrote under the pen name Sophie Leyton. She died on January 20, 2009 at the age of 80.