Victor Sebestyen was born in Budapest. He was an infant when his family left Hungary as refugees. As a journalist, he was worked on numerous British newspapers. He reported widely from Eastern Europe when Communism collapsed in 1989. He covered the war in former Yugoslavia. At the London Evening Standard he was foreign editor, media editor and chief leader writer. His highly acclaimed first book, TWELVE DAYS (W&N 2006), was an account of the 1956 Hungarian uprising.