Beatrice 'Bea' Cowan read Classics and Theology at St Andrews University where she now lives with her husband, a retired physician. She taught Classics and R. E. in schools in the South-East of England for a number of years before turning to writing. She was fired with interest as a child when she heard her father's accounts of his life on Discovery II and saw his photographs and films. A visit to South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula confirmed her fascination with the area.