Moni Mohsin grew up in Lahore, and describes herself as being from a family of "educated, westernised people". When General Zia came to power in a coup in 1977, her family began to feel less comfortable in the new, religious Pakistan, where political repression against nonconformists became routine, but remained in Lahore. Mohsin studied at Cambridge University, and now divides her time between Lahore and London, where she lives with her husband and two children.