Early life O'Mara was born in
Durban,
Natal Province, South Africa of Irish parentage and carried an Irish passport. After an early career in theater O'Mara worked as a flight attendant for
Gulf Air, before becoming a video producer in the Gulf States. After travelling through Canada and the United States, living briefly in
Elkins, West Virginia, she settled in London during the 1990s. She was living in
Northamptonshire in the early 2000s. In 2003, she worked as a volunteer for Mondo Challenge in Tanzania. She returned to her childhood home of South Africa in 2005.
Personal life At the time of her death, she lived in
Kosmos, Madibeng, with her husband Christopher Leach. British mercenary
Mike Hoare was her uncle. She wrote an unpublished account of his adventures as a mercenary in
the Congo during the 1960s and the
Seychelles in the 1970s.
Death She was travelling on
Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771, which crashed in Libya, on her way to visit London for a meeting with publishers. She had previously been forced to abandon a scheduled appearance at the
London Book Fair by the cancellation of flights to the UK resulting from the
Eyjafjallajökull eruption. ==Works==