Sally Gindley was born in Woolwich and grew up in the Medway Towns. She studied French Literature at Sussex University before working for a national children's book club where she stayed as Editorial Director for 17 years. During that time she had her first children's books published. She has been a full-time author since 1995, and has had over 100 books published. She was enormously honoured to win the Nestle Smarties Gold Award for Spilled Water, her novel about a Chinese girl sold into domestic slavery, and she's proud too of her subsequent books about children of the world who lead difficult lives - Broken Glass (Sunday Times Book of the Week), Torn Pages and Bitter Chocolate. Sally won the Federation of Children's Book Groups Award for Shhh! and the Smarties Prize for Can I Help Dad? She now lives in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, with her three sons - when they're not at university - and Dizzy, her very very old cat. Jane has over 25 years experience in broadcasting and voiceovers. Working mainly in television, she has been a BBC newsreader, presenter and continuity announcer. She has narrated many documentaries and was the voice of Orange Phones for 14 years. For her first audiobook, The Palace of Curiosities by Rosie Garland, she played both female and male narrators, and a host of accents from posh to cockney, Dutch and Italian.