Salley Vickers
Salley Vickers was born in Liverpool and raised by parents in the British Communist Party.
A state scholarship took her to St Paul's Girl's School, followed by English studies at Newnham College, Cambridge.
Her remarkably varied career has included cleaning, dancing, modelling, teaching children with special needs, university lecturing, and practising as a psychoanalyst.
Her debut novel became an international word-of-mouth bestseller, after which she began writing full time.
She lectures widely on connections between art, literature, psychology, and religion.
Her personal interests include opera, bird watching, dancing, and poetry.
Her distinctive name derives from a W.B. Yeats poem set to music by Benjamin Britten.
