Lucy Irvine was born on 1 February 1956 in Whitton, Middlesex. She ran away from school very early and had no full-time education after the age of thirteen. She has been employed as a charlady, monkey- keeper, waitress, stonemason's mate, life model, pastry-cook and concierge as well as having worked with disabled people and as a clerk at the Inland Revenue. She is the author of one novel, One is One, as well as Castaway and an account of her early years, Runaway. Faraway, her latest book, is her account of her year spent on a remote island in the Solomons. She has three sons and lives in the Highlands of Scotland.