Rita Shulman was born in 1927 in London, England, daugther of Jewish immigrants from Russia. In 1948, she married Michael Lewin and they had a son, Jeremy. She began writing with her first published romance novel in 1950, and published romance novels as Roberta Leigh (the name for which she is known best), Rachel Lindsay, Roumelia Lane, Rozella Lake and Janey Scott. She was one of the first writers to introduce strong career-minded heroines. She also had her own film company and was very successful for many years developing innovative TV series for children on British television including Twizzle, Sarah & Hoppity, Torchy and Space Patrol. As well as writing the stories, she'wrote' the music for her series, although this usually involved her humming or singing the tune into a tape recorder, after which someone else would arrange and write a score. She studied painting with Diana Raphael and Michael Chaitow, and they awakened her interest in abstract art, and she had some success as an artist before returning to writing romantic fiction. She lived in London until her death.