Tabitha Suzuma was born in London to an English mother and a Japanese father, the eldest of five children. She went to the French Lycée, hated school, refused to work and sat at the back of the class, writing stories. When she was fourteen, she just stopped going to school - much to her teachers' relief and her parents' anguish. Ten years on she returned to the classroom, this time as a Year 1 teacher. At this point she wrote her first novel, A Note of Madness. She went on to write three more novels for young adults: From Where I Stand, A Voice in the Distance and Without Looking Back. Her latest novel, Forbidden, is an incestuous love story between a brother and sister. She is currently working on her sixth novel.