Elizabeth Letts grew up in California. As a child, she loved books and horses, and dreamed of growing up to write books about horses like her idol Marguerite Henry. In her teens, she was a competitive equestrian three-day eventer. She attended Yale College where she majored in History. She currently lives with her husband and four children in southeastern Pennsylvania where she divides her time between writing, and working as a midwife in a women's health clinic.