Mary lives in Bath with her husband, Julian Caldecott. She practises as an osteopath in the picturesque Wiltshire town of Bradford on Avon, treating people three days a week (see www.mmost.co.uk) and horses and dogs one day a week (see www.hippokampos.co.uk and www.facebook.com/the2marys). She is a Trustee of the Sutherland Cranial College of Osteopathy (SCCO) and Member of the Royal Society of Medicine and Association of Animal Osteopaths. She was formerly a marketing consultant, with five years experience at what is now PricewaterhouseCoopers, and three years with strategy consultancy, P.Four (now part of WPP). She began her marketing career with Cadbury’s confectionery.

“Stranger In My Heart” is Mary Monro’s first book. She has had various articles published in the osteopathic press, most recently in the International Journal of Osteopathic Medicine (March 2017) – a discussion on the role of research in investigating the phenomenon of osteopathy. She had an article titled Hearts & Minds: The Mystery of Consciousness published on a philosophy blog in November 2017. Her undergraduate dissertation, titled “Patient Priorities in Osteopathic Care” was published in the British Osteopathic Journal in 2001. Mary co-authored “What makes successful businesses successful?” (ISBN 0952980207) published by P.Four Consultancy in 1997. Her marketing consultancy work was largely judged on her writing, requiring her to condense large volumes of complex data into succinct and cogent reports.

She is an experienced speaker and presenter, from her history of delivering consultancy findings and from teaching on post-graduate osteopathic courses. After a recent osteopathic lecture followed by a practical session to apply the concept taught, feedback included the comment “Fabulous lecture! Mind-blowing practical!” In May 2015 Mary presented an illustrated version of the story of “Stranger In My Heart” to about 50 members of Smethcote Women’s Institute in Shropshire (the WI can be a tough crowd – ask Tony Blair!) Typical responses were “Inspiring!” and “Brilliantly done and fascinating”.

Mary was born and raised at a farm on the edge of the south Shropshire hills, the youngest of four children. She attended Shrewsbury High School from age four to eighteen. She spent much of her childhood on horseback, with the encouragement of her father as local hunt secretary and her mother as local Pony Club secretary. Her childhood association with horses left her with permanent damage to her right eye, a broken nose, broken knee-cap and broken coccyx. She has been bitten, kicked, rolled on, dragged, and has fallen off too many times to recall, but she still rides racehorses for fun.

Mary on Brahmagiri