Karen Liebreich is an author, historian, gardener and film-maker
While working on her PhD in Florence and Rome Karen discovered documents that resulted in her exposé about paedophile scandals amongst the priesthood in the seventeenth century, later written up in Fallen Order. When a friend found The Letter in the Bottle, Karen tracked down the sender in a book that became a cause célèbre in France. Discovering a secret 17th century walled garden in a local park, Karen set out to restore it to life and documented the results as The Family Kitchen Garden.
After her studies in Italy, she worked as the cultural assistant for the French Institute in London, before joining the BBC where she researched TV documentaries on European historical themes including prize-winning films on Nazis, silent cinema and the Royal Navy for both the BBC and the History Channel. When her children were very young she founded (and subsequently sold) a successful business, the Baby Directory.
She now runs Abundance London, project manages the various public realm and environmental projects, and has just completed An Objective History, a family history. She was awarded an MBE for services to horticulture and education in 2013.