“I had an interest in medicine,” she acknowledges, “but I studied in earnest - received my first qualifications - in the 1980s. Germany.” Her 'interest', as it were, was born largely out of an interest in poison and its antidotes; then maternal health. It wasn't until her father encouraged her that she considered it in the professional sense... and that hadn't worked out exactly the way Matej had in mind. “I've been in and out of the field since then.”

Her faint smile was almost whimsical. “I am a novelist, also.”