The author Heather Marshall was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1952. Her parents were separated before she was born and since her father had always lived in South Carolina, the first time they met was when she was twenty-seven. She went to high school in Dundonald near Belfast and did not go to college at that time. She met her husband Michael in 1975 and they married a year later. Their son was born in 1980. A major complication to their lives came a few nights after the birth when Heather had a serious manic depressive episode which caused their son to be taken into care by the authorities. They did not return Keith to their custody.

This caused major changes in their lives, and if they were ever to be a family, a way would have to be found. They ended up immigrating to America and living in South Carolina to live with Heather's father. They have built a life there. Michael has a trucking business and his son Keith has worked with him but now lives and works for a trucking company in Iowa. They now have a daughter, Melanie, who is their office manager. Heather went to Technical College, graduated in 1990, and worked in the local regional hospital for twenty three years as a lab tech before retiring in 2014. Michael and Heather usually go back to Belfast once a year or so to visit family.