Author Catherine Storr was born in London, England on July 21, 1913 and was brought up in Kensington. She was educated at St. Paul's Girls' School and went on to study English at Newnham College, Cambridge. She then went to medical school and worked part-time as a Senior Medical Officer in the Department of Psychological Medicine of the Middlesex Hospital from 1950 to 1963. Her first book was published in 1940, but was not successful. It was not until the 1950's that her books became popular. She wrote mostly children's books as well as books for adults, plays, short stories, and adapted one of her novels into an opera libretto. She published more than 30 children's books, but is best known for Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf and Marianne Dreams, which was made into a television series and a film. Catherine Storr died on January 6, 2001 at the age of 87.