Anne "Annie" Bushell was born in October 1938 in Devon, England. She worked as journalist at the Paignton Observer, but after her marriage, she moved to the north of England, where she worked as teacher. After she returned to journalism, she joined the Middlesbrough Writers' Group, where she met other romance writer Mildred Grieveson (Anne Mather). She started to write romance. In 1975, she sold her first romance novel to Mills & Boon, under the pseudonym of Sara Craven.
In 1997, she was the overall winner of the BBC's Mastermind, winning the last final presented by Magnus Magnusson.
Divorced twice, she lived in the Midlands town of Rugby in England, but was a regular visitor to New York City, where her twin grandchildren live. Ashurst passed away in 2017.