Part of Pip Granger's early childhood was spent in the back seat of a light aircraft as her father smuggled brandy, tobacco and books across the English Channel to be sold in 1950s Soho, where she lived above the Two Is Caf in Old Compton Street. She worked as a Special Needs teacher in Hackney in the 1980s, before quitting teaching to pursue her long cherished ambition to write. She now lives in Somerset with her husband.