Lois Murphy has travelled widely, spending six years exploring Australia in a homemade 4WD truck, working mainly in small or remote towns, before settling in Darwin for a number of years. The majority of Soon, her first novel, was written while living in a caravan park in Carnarvon. The bulk of You’ve Let Them In, her first book for children, was written in Broken Hill. She recently settled in regional Victoria, in a house strangely similar to the one in this book. She lives in her particular shambles with two black cats and three chickens, but doesn’t really like garden gnomes, so thankfully has no idea what they’re talking about.