Autor/-in: Irene Turnbull-Banham

Irene Turnbull-Banham is a novelist whose writing is inspired by a lifetime of international experience, family history and a fascination with the enduring connections between people, cultures and generations. Following a successful career as a senior manager with HSBC, she spent many years at the Bank's headquarters in Hong Kong, working across the Far East and Pacific Rim. Her role required the preparation of strategic reports and business papers on behalf of senior regional management, developing the research, analytical and writing skills that now underpin her work as an author. An ex-military wife, Irene also lived for many years throughout the Far East, gaining a deep appreciation of Chinese culture, history and philosophy. These experiences, together with her late husband's extensive research into his family's extraordinary wartime experiences-including the fall of Hong Kong, the Lisbon Maru, and life as a prisoner of war-inspired her to preserve these remarkable stories through historical fiction. Her debut novel, The Story of Our Lives - Do Dragons Really Fly. , was published in 2026 after more than a decade of research and writing. Its sequel, Lilly Moon Flower, continues that journey, exploring themes of courage, belonging, reconciliation and the lasting bonds that unite families across generations and cultures. Irene lives in North Wales, where she continues to write novels inspired by true events, believing that history is most powerful when told through the lives of ordinary people whose courage changed the future.