Penelope Trevor was born in Sydney and moved to Melbourne with her family at a young age. Her eclectic career includes working as an actress, a teacher in Nepal, a gallery curator, a journalist, a scriptwriter and a novelist. Her first novel, Listening for Small Sounds, was shortlisted in The Australian/Vogel Literary awards and published in 1996. It won the Dobbie Award for first published book in the Nita B Kibble Awards 1997 and was shortlisted for the Benella Award for Best Audio Book.