Lily Brett was born in Germany and immigrated to Melbourne, Australia with her parents in 1948. Her first book, The Auschwitz Poems, won the Victorian Premier's Award for poetry in 1987. She has gone on to win several major prizes for her fiction and poetry. Her previous novel, Too Many Men, was an international bestseller. Lily Brett is the author of four novels, three books of essays and six volumes of poetry. She has lived in New York with her husband, the painter David Rankin, since 1989. They have three children.