Peter Holdroyd lives with his wife of more than 40 years in a village a few miles outside the city of Norwich, in eastern England. They have two grown-up children, and two granddaughters. Peter retired from the UK Customs Service at the end of 2003. He had already begun studying at the local university, which has a world-wide reputation for its Creative Writing courses. Although he has written short stories since the age of twelve (and continues to do so), he began writing novels in 2004.