Sarah Gainham was born in London in 1915. She moved to Germany in her early thirties, shortly after WWII, and then to Austria, where she remained for over fifty years. It is in central Europe that her early thrillers such as Cold Dark Night, The Stone Roses and Silent Hostage are played out.

Night Falls on the City was first published to worldwide acclaim in 1967. She later wrote two further novels set in Vienna, A Place in the Country and Private Worlds. Gainham reported regularly on central European affairs for the Spectator, Encounter and the New Republic. She died in Austria in 1999.

Kate Mosse is the No 1 international bestselling author of six novels, three works of non fiction, three plays and short stories and essays. The first of her Languedoc Trilogy, Labyrinth, was a multi-million bestselling and critical success on an international scale. It won the Best Read category at the British Book Awards 2006, was No 1 in UK paperback for six months and was named as one of the Top 25 books of the past 25 years by Waterstones and was translated into thirty-eight languages. The second in the Languedoc Trilogy, Sepulchre, was also a worldwide bestseller, as was Citadel, the final novel in the series. Inspired by the forgotten women's stories of the Occupation in France, it tells the history of an all-female resistance unit in Carcassonne during World War II. Kate will be taking part in the inaugural event of the Resistance Studies Initiative at the University of Sussex in May.
Other fiction includes the No 1 bestselling The Winter Ghosts and The Mistletoe Bride & Other Haunting Tales. Her non fiction includes Chichester Festival Theatre at Fifty and The House: Behind the Scenes at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Kate is the Co-Founder and Chair of the Board of the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (previously the Orange Prize). She is on the Board of the National Theatre and a Patron of the Sussex based Consort of Twelve and the Fishbourne Centre. In 2012, she won the 'Spirit of Everywoman Award' for services to literature. In 2013, she was named as one of the Bookseller's Top 100 most influential people in publishing and in January 2014 was included in the Sunday Times/Debretts 500 Most Influential People list in the UK.

In June 2013, Kate was awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to literature.