Helen Callaghan was born in Los Angeles, California, to British parents, and her early years were spent in both the US and UK. After several early false starts as a nurse, barmaid and actor, she settled into bookselling, working as a fiction specialist and buyer for a variety of bookshops. Eventually, she studied for her A-Levels at night school and achieved a place at Cambridge University as a mature student.

Helen is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Dear Amy and Everything is Lies, and has also written Night Falls, Still Missing.

She now lives in Cambridge.