Clare Kerchhoff was born in KwaZulu Natal in 1962 and grew up in Pietermaritzburg. After her best friend left for England when they were both eight years old, she found solace in climbing trees in their family garden, and reading in the children's library where her mother worked. Family holidays in the Drakensberg mountains, and the Natal and Cape beaches introduced her to wild spaces and the beauty of the South African landscape.

In her adolescence, her parents' anti - apartheid work, which led to her father's three month detention without trial, and solitary confinement, increased her awareness of the political injustices of the country but also of the rich cultural heritage of all its people.

With a Bachelor of Arts degree and a teaching diploma from the University of KwaZulu - Natal, she taught high school English for a few years and then travelled in Asia, where she taught English as a second language in South Korea. She met her Australian husband in Thailand during this time. They settled in Johannesburg where they had two beautiful children who also developed a love of reading and of wild open spaces.

Clare Kerchhoff now teaches music in Johannesburg but likes to escape to the mountains whenever she can. She writes poetry, songs, and various other works as a hobby. This is her first children's novel and she has written it particularly for South African children.