Nicola Garrard grew up in Devon, France and Sussex. She studied English Literature, with a focus on representations of race in Early Modern theatre. She has taught in secondary schools for twenty-three years, including fifteen in an Islington comprehensive. Her first novel, 29 LOCKS, was shortlisted in the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize and the Mslexia Children's Novel Competition. She lives in Sussex with her partner, three children and a Jack Russell terrier. Her family is typical of modern Britain, with roots in England, Scotland and Trinidad.