Sally Beauman was born in Paignton, Devon, England on July 25, 1944. She read English literature at Girton College, Cambridge. While living in the United States, she worked as a staff writer for New York magazine before becoming an associate editor. She moved to London in 1970 and became the editor of Queen Magazine. After that, she worked as a freelancer for Vogue, the Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Times, and the Observer. She was the first winner of the Catherine Pakenham award for journalism.
Under the pseudonym Vanessa James, Beauman wrote seven Harlequin romances in the 1980s including The Fire and the Ice and Give Me This Night. The first novel written under her own name was Destiny, which was published in 1987. Her other novels included Dark Angel, Lovers and Liars, Danger Zones, Sextet, Rebecca's Tale, The Landscape of Love, and The Visitors. She died of cancer on July 7, 2016 at the age of 71.
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