Juliet Piggott spent much of her childhood in Japan where her father, a Sapper and Japanese scholar, did two tours of the Military Attache. Her early interest in the country resulted in two of her previous books, Japanese Mythology and The Story of Japan. She has also written a number of children's books. She joined the Women's Royal Navy Service in 1942, and her working life since the war has either been in, or closely connected with, the book trade. Since she is the widow of Lt-Col Herbert Fairlie Wood, the military historian, author of The King's Royal Rifle Corps, one of the firs titles in the Famous Regimens series.
