Gillian Bradshaw was born in 1956 in Virginia, U.S.A., grew up partly in Chile, and graduated from the University of Michigan, where she took two prizes in Greek and won a Hopwood Award for the manuscript of her first novel, Hawk of May. She lives in England with her husband, Robin Ball, where she writes historical fiction (for fun) and science fiction (for money) and has four wonderful kids, who don't get supper unless they clean their rooms.