Juliet Marillier was born in 1948 in Dunedin, New Zealand. She has worked as a music teacher, opera singer and tax assessor, but is now a full-time writer. Her historical fantasy novels for adult readers are published internationally and have won a number of awards. Juliet lives in a hundred-year-old cottage by the Swan River in Perth. She shares her house with a kelpie cross, a miniature pinscher and a tri-coloured cat. She loves history, folklore and travel.