Born in Bristol, Rebecca Powell studied French and Portuguese at the University of Leeds and later went on to study drama in London. Over the years she has worked at a women's shelter in Brazil, as an actress in Australia and as an English teacher in France, where she now lives with her teenage daughters. Alongside writing, she works as a fiction editor and book coach and has a growing collection of vintage typewriters, which she's attempting to restore. She has previously been shortlisted for the Caledonia Novel Award and longlisted for the Goldfinch Novel Award. Her brothers are the science fiction author Gareth L. Powell and children's author Huw Powell.