Penelope Bell was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago. Her love of reading and writing took hold at a very young age—you would always see her with a book or a pen and paper in her hands. She loved mysteries and stories about horses or dogs or tales of knights in shining armor. As she grew older, romance stories intrigued her, especially if they were historical and took place in foreign countries.
When she was 20 years old, she went on a three-week road trip with her parents, traveling through the Rocky Mountain states, down the west coast, then throughout the southwest. The memories were long-lasting and impressionable, and over the following years, she made several trips to the southwest, savoring the atmosphere, varied terrain, and climate. The snow-capped mountains of northern Arizona, the Ponderosa pine forests, the Grand Canyon, and the high and low desert regions beckoned her. Her parents had retired and moved to Arizona, and when an opportunity presented itself to her, as a divorced mother of two, she relocated to the greater Phoenix area, traveling cross-country with her teenage children, two affectionate cats, and a silly but protective Irish Setter.
Caring for her children and her aging parents and working a full time job didn’t allow for much reading or writing time, but somehow, she managed to squeeze some of it in to her life. It brought her happiness and serenity.
Writing is her passion with photography coming in as a close second. Penelope self-published several “coffee table” photography books, one of which included her poetry and short stories. Her family has always been supportive of her writing and encouraged her to publish her novels.
Penelope’s stories have been a catharsis for her. She writes what she knows. Lead characters deal with events and situations very familiar to her. In many ways, she feels it has liberated her from her own past traumas and taken her from being broken to being made whole again.
Music is vital to her, and she always has it as a background while writing. She affirms it gets the creative juices flowing and the imagination soaring.
Her advocacy for the protection of wild horses is near and dear to her, and you will more than likely find the struggle to prevent the extinction of those majestic creatures within her books.
Penelope met her “forever” in 2007 and lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with her husband. In the summer, time is spent at their cabin up in the northern Arizona forests. Maintaining her heritage and traditions and spending time with family is very important to her. She and her husband both love to travel and have done so extensively, including most of North America, the Caribbean, and Europe, savoring the histories, cultures, and geography of those places, yet they cherish those quiet times at home, sharing each other’s thoughts and dreams.
