Sandra Schwab started writing her first novel when she was seven years old. Twenty-odd years later, telling stories is still her greatest passion, even though by now she has exchanged her pink, heart-dotted fountain pen for a computer keyboard (black, no hearts). She lives in a small town near Frankfurt on the Main, Germany, with altogether too many books and two rather vocal cats. She teaches English literature at the University of Mainz and, when not writing, cuddling cats, preparing classes, or correcting student papers, she works on her doctoral thesis.