The author was born in England and grew up during the Second World War. After graduating in modern languages from St Andrews University, she worked in London and Exeter as a secretary and in teaching. She returned to St Andrews on her marriage, where her three daughters grew up; she now lives in Malvern.

The first poems in this collection were written in the sixties, and the last were composed in Malvern, but they are not in strictly chronological order; they are perhaps more of a record of living through the last century.