Lucy Irvine

Born on 1 February 1956 in Whitton, London, Irvine is the younger daughter of Robert R. Irvine and his wife Lena Holloway, who was from Calver in Derbyshire. She has two siblings, an older sister and a younger brother. She later revealed that she had a tumultuous upbringing, developing a "habit of solitude" and confiding in her diary rather than people as a result of her family life. She repeatedly ran away from school and from home, maintaining this was not "because I was discontented, but because I found it interesting", and claiming "Not belonging to any particular group, I was free to observe. I drew word sketches of people's faces and actions. But I always kept a certain distance, and that habit has stuck." She had no full-time schooling after her thirteenth birthday. Before writing Castaway, she had been employed as a charwoman, monkey keeper, waitress, stonemason's mate, life model, pastry cook, concierge, and Inland Revenue clerk.