Guilty love

Sheila Holland, known by her pen name Charlotte Lamb, was born just before the beginning of World War II in the East End of London. She left school at 16, and got a job at the Bank of England as a clerk. Lamb continued to teach herself by taking advantage of the bank's library during her lunch breaks and after work. She later worked as a secretary for the British Broadcasting Corporation. Lamb began writing at her husband's suggestion. She wrote her first book in three days and in between raising five children wrote several more novels. She used both her married and maiden names, among other pseudonyms, before her first novel as Charlotte Lamb, Follow a Stranger, was published by Harlequin Mills & Boon in 1973. Lamb wrote more than 160 novels, typically writing a minimum of 2,000 words per day, working from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Charlotte Lamb passed away in October 2000 at the age of 62.