About Maggie
Maggie’s first book, in 1985 – Aromatherapy for Women – was the third aromatherapy book ever to be published in the English language. The first half was written in under a week with pencil and paper. Cut and paste was a pair of scissors and a roll of sticky tape. The retail price was £2.50.
The book has been revised four times under different covers and translated into several languages. Worldwide, Aromatherapy for Women has sold in excess of 700,000 copies.
Book commissions followed, with Maggie writing a further four books in quick succession. Writing a book to a publisher’s deadline, is like having a baby. The immediate elation quickly turns to ‘never again’. But then…..
In 1989, Maggie was the first speaker to visit Japan and give talks on the subject of aromatherapy, speaking to a large, mixed audience in Tokyo. Further visits to Japan saw Maggie give talks in Kyoto and Osaka, as well as very much enjoying the experience of Shinkansen journeys.
Japanese translations of Maggie’s books initiated five trips to Japan, each visit involved giving talks, book signings and as many ‘selfies’ as requested.
Alongside sales of books, Maggie’s business partners created a range of aromatherapy products bearing her name. Maggie was always looked after extremely well, and fell in love with Japan, the people, the delicious food and the outstandingly beautiful buildings and gardens In 2012, Maggie sold her business interests in Japan, when her eldest daughter was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer.
These photographs show Maggie book signing and giving talks.
Profits from trading with Japan enabled Maggie to invest in an essential oil project in West Africa.
In the mid-1990s Maggie became involved with a project in the Ivory Coast, West Africa, where a group of farmers were growing an aromatic plant – ylang-ylang – having already cut down their coffee and cocoa bushes and replaced their cash crops with ylang-ylang saplings. The tree has a beautiful yellow flower and a delightful scent.
Maggie wanted to help the farmers by paying them a fair price for the essential oil and then selling the essential oil to aromatherapy companies and to one French perfumery company. But after Maggie had invested much time, money and energy in the project, the country fell into civil unrest and sadly, the project had to be abandoned.
Checking for news coverage of the West African situation, Maggie came across articles on the subject of MRSA – a superbug taking the lives of more than 5,000 people a year in UK hospitals, maiming countless others, and continuously spreading around the world.
From 2005 – 2009, Maggie worked with a university microbiology team on the south coast of England, with the objective of testing essential oils against MRSA and other microbes. After successful research results and a published paper, Maggie spent a further two years researching and writing the book – Aromatherapy vs MRSA.
Maggie wanted to share the research with a wider audience, as AMR – antimicrobial resistance – was a growing problem back then, and remains so to this day.
Maggie has three books published in Hangul – the written language of Korea – and in 2017 was invited to Seoul for the launch of Aromatherapy vs MRSA, delivering two talks and signing more than a hundred books – in one day.
Maggie has put her heart and soul into creating a book that is easy to navigate; broken up into relevant sections; and offers up-to-date information on the available scientific and medical evidence that has already taken place, looking for the causative factor that underpins the tragedy that is long Covid. At the time of publication, there were more than 2 million sufferers in the UK, 18 million + in the USA, and estimates of 65 million worldwide.