Sheila Mary Taylor

Sheila Mary Taylor was born in Cape Town of Scottish immigrants, Dr James Garden Taylor, psychologist, behavioural scientist and author; and Dora Taylor, novelist, poet, playwright and literary critic. Sheila studied at the Cape Technical College, and also trained at the University of Cape Town Ballet School after which she went to the UK to further her career as a dancer. Instead she met and married Colin Belshaw, a mining engineer. The couple immigrated to Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) where...See more

Sheila Mary Taylor was born in Cape Town of Scottish immigrants, Dr James Garden Taylor, psychologist, behavioural scientist and author; and Dora Taylor, novelist, poet, playwright and literary critic. Sheila studied at the Cape Technical College, and also trained at the University of Cape Town Ballet School after which she went to the UK to further her career as a dancer. Instead she met and married Colin Belshaw, a mining engineer. The couple immigrated to Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) where their three sons were born. When their youngest son developed primary bone cancer, Sheila sat at his hospital bedside and was impelled by the drama of this situation to write about the incredible battle they fought together. This true and thought-provoking story, Fly With a Miracle, was later re-published under the title Count to Ten, by Taylor Street Books in San Francisco, where until April 2014 Sheila was chief editor. Second editions of her four novels to date have now been published by Precious Oil Publications. Sheila and Colin spend six months of the year in Cape Town, the other six in Menorca and the UK. She loves music, photography, walking and dancing. Her love for ballet never left her and this love has inspired a number of her books. See less