Diane Margaret Pearson was born on 1931 in London, England. During her childhood, she often visited her grandparents in a village on the Surrey/Kent borders.

At 16, she started her career in publishing with Jonathan Cape Ltd, and was during 38 years senior editor at Transworld. In 1994, she won the British Book Award for Editor of the Year.

In addition, she is the writer of several short stories and novels, which have been translated into several languages.

In 1975, she became the second wife of the Irish actor Richard Leech (McClelland) (1922...2004), she lives in her native London.

Whitman Saga

1. The Marigold Field (1969)
2. Sarah Whitman (1971) aka Sarah

Single novels

• The Loom of Tancred (1967) aka Bride of Tancred
• Csardas (1975)
• The Summer of the Barshinskeys (1984)
• Voices of Summer (1992)

Anthologies in collaboration

• Sarah Whitman; The Runaways; Nunaga; The Winds of War (1972) (with Victor Canning, Duncan Pryde and Herman Wouk)
• Proof; The Old Man of the Sea; Stillwatch, The Summer of the Barshinskeys (1985) (with Dick Francis, Ernest Hemingway and Mary Higgins Clark)
• Reader's Digest Condensed Books (1995) (with Terence Strong, Mary Higgins Clark and Ewan Clarkson)