Gillian Morton was born in Wiltshire in the summer of 1944 following her mother’s evacuation to the safety of the countryside, but later returned with her family to Portsmouth. She grew up in a family steeped in amateur dramatics and would often watch rehearsals and performances from the back of a darkened hall. The good thing, she says, is that by 12 years old she had seen almost all of Shakespeare’s plays.
As an educational psychotherapist, Gillian used stories to help troubled children process their difficult life experiences. Her knowledge of the power of fiction to build understanding of real issues now fires her own writing.
Kiss and Don’t Tell is Gillian’s third novel, set in Portsmouth, where she grew up in the aftermath of World War Two. It follows Bombweed (SilverWood Books 2018), the successful adaptation of her mother’s wartime fiction, and is both a sequel and companion book to her second novel, Kissed to Death (SilverWood Books 2021) She has also published a children’s book, Princess Miranda Butterfly (SilverWood Books 2022), drawing on her experience as a therapist. Find out more at
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