About Nathalie…

Nathalie was born in the Netherlands, lived there in her childhood in Amsterdam before moving to Curaçao as a teenager. She lived there until she moved to Britain as an adult. Her mother is British-born but she’s as proud of her Caribbean heritage passed onto her by her father who was born on Curaçao.

Biography

Nathalie is the eldest child of Siegfried E. Römer, a legal expert and lawyer, and Jennifer M. Römer (née Bates), a personnel manager, on 9 January 1969 in Leiden, Netherlands. Her parents first met whilst working in Denmark in the late 1960s. They married on 25 August 1968. Nathalie has one surviving sister Peggy who had studied costume design, and still misses the presence of Deborah who passed away a number of years previous.

Nathalie’s late maternal grandmother was a school cook, fiercely independent and did much work for the Girl Guides for many decades. Nathalie was reminded of her own goals in life when at her grandmother’s funeral it was told how she was a strong and independent person, and that is what set a plan of action into realisation in Nathalie’s mind — to get something done to be useful and have done something worthwhile.

Nathalie’s paternal grandfather was her “rock” in life and Nathalie looked up to him, and always listened to his wise advice. One of the things Nathalie remembers to this day is him telling her “to always be a strong, loyal, caring person”. Because of him loyalty and friendship are important, and that is also the common theme in the stories she writes. Her grandfather was the first person of colour to serve on an all-white board of directors of Shell on Curacao, Netherlands Antilles. He later worked for the U.N. He is still missed every day.

The other person to inspire Nathalie is her “Uncle John”. He was not really my uncle but my great-uncle and married to my great-aunt “Auntie Vera”, who was my maternal grandmother’s sister. Both Uncle John and Auntie Vera worked as police officers in their younger years, and were one of those who guarded Queen Elizabeth II’s train, and would “meet and greet” the Queen.

Childhood and Education

Nathalie lived in Amsterdam, Netherlands during her childhood, and then moved to Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles where her father is from. She lived there until she was 21 years old when she moved to Great Britain with her mother and both sisters, the eldest of whom died later.

Nathalie was particularly good at art at school, and was encouraged by one art teacher to pursue an artistic career. At her secondary school, that Nathalie attended for a year while still living in Amsterdam, she would help in the school library and it was reading the books there that gave her the dream of becoming an author herself one day.

Other Pursuits

In addition to reading books, other interests that Nathalie has includes needlework and crafts, painting and drawing, archaeological research and history, science topics, playing MMO games, cooking, photography, and web design.