Ann Moray grew up in Wales, although she was of Scots-Irish descent, and has been deeply interested in the ancient world and its myth and legend since childhood. It was while she was working on a book about the folklore of Gaelic and Brythonic Celts that the mountains among which she spent her youth, the Welsh people and the gypsies became so vivid in her memory that this novel pre-empted the other work and came into being. In private life, Miss Moray was married to Juan Lopez de Ceballos, a Venezualan diplomat.