Santa Montefiore - Biography

Santa Montefiore, born Santa Palmer-Tomkinson, (born 2 February 1970) is a British author.

Santa is the sister of Tara Palmer-Tomkinson. Her parents are Charles Palmer-Tomkinson and Patricia Palmer-Tomkinson, of Anglo-Argentine background. Her father represented his country in skiing at Olympic level. Her family have been close friends of The Prince of Wales for over 30 years.

Montefiore was born in Winchester, and attended Hanford School from the age of eight to twelve. She then finished her education at Sherborne School for Girls in Dorset.

Before reading Spanish and Italian at Exeter University, Montefiore worked for a year on an Argentine estancia. She lived for much of the 1990s in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she befriended Princess Máxima of the Netherlands, before returning to the UK. Four of her books are set in Argentina. She is married to writer and historian Simon Sebag Montefiore and has two children, Lily and Sasha; she converted to Judaism before the marriage.  She is a socialite often featured in the gossip columns of upmarket magazines.

Works

• The Butterfly Box (2002) ISBN 0-7089-9402-4
• Meet Me Under the Ombu Tree (2002) ISBN 0-7089-9333-8
• The Forget-me-not Sonata (2003) ISBN 0-340-83171-5
• The Swallow and the Hummingbird (2004) ISBN 0-340-83260-6
• The Last Voyage of the Valentina (2005) ISBN 0-340-83087-5
• The Gypsy Madonna (2006)
• Sea of Lost Love (2007)
• The French Gardener (2008)
• The Italian Matchmaker (2009)
• The Affair (2010)
• The House by the Sea (2011)