Born in Jersey, Elinor Glyn (1864-1943) was infused with aristocratic notions by her grandmother, and grew up an exotic beauty with white skin and flaming hair. Her marriage, in 1892, was not the romantic success she had hoped for, though she later had affairs with Lord Curzon, and possibly Lord Milner.

Her first novel, The Visits of Elizabeth (1906) was very successful, but real notoriety came with Three Weeks, published in 1907. She went on to write many other novels of intense emotions and luxurious settings, including the follow-up Six Days (1924). With her 1926 novella, It, she found a new term for sex-appeal, which gained universal currency with the Clara Bow film in which Glyn herself appeared. She spent much of the 1920s in Hollywood, scripting, directing movies and writing books of advice on love and marriage.

Sally Beauman read English at Girton College, Cambridge. She worked as a journalist in America and Britain before beginning to write fiction. She is the author of six previous novels, including the acclaimed Rebecca's Tale.