Miranda Lee

Miranda Lee was a prolific Australian writer of over 90 romance novels. Miranda Lee was the pen name of Maureen Lee, a prolific Australian writer. She was one of Harlequin/Mills & Boon’s most influential romance authors. She signed with the publisher in 1988, and her first novel, After the Affair, was published in 1990.

Miranda Lee was born in Port Macquarie, a seaside town on the Mid-North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, and is the youngest of four children. Her father was a country school teacher and a brilliant sportsman. Her mother was a talented dressmaker.

When Miranda was ten, her father was transferred to Gosford, another coastal town in the countryside closer to Sydney. After leaving her convent school, she briefly studied the cello before moving to Sydney, where she embraced the emerging world of computers.

Her career as a programmer ended after she married, had three daughters, and bought a small acreage in a semi-rural community. Following this, she attempted greyhound training but was left dissatisfied. Miranda yearned to find a creative career from which she could earn money.

When her sister Wendy Brennan, who wrote novels with her husband under the pseudonym Emma Darcy, suggested writing romances, it seemed like a good idea. It took a decade of trial and error before her first romance, After the Affair, was accepted and published in 1990.

Miranda, her husband, and her three daughters had moved back to the Central Coast, where they could enjoy the sun and the surf lifestyle again. Not long into her writing career, Miranda committed herself to writing a six-book series, The Hearts of Fire, with a deadline of just nine short months.

Bravely, her husband left his executive position to stay home and support Miranda’s writing career. He learned to cook and clean, two invaluable household skills.

Numerous successful stories followed, each embodying Miranda’s trademark style: pacy and sexy rhythms, passionate, real-life characters, and enduring, memorable storylines.

Maureen went on to write over 90 novels for Harlequin/Mills & Boon, selling over 18 million copies worldwide and hitting the USA Today bestseller list.

She has one credo when writing romances: Don’t bore the reader!

Maureen Lee, who wrote as Miranda Lee, died on 13th November 2021, aged 76.