Gillian Cross was born December 24, 1945, in London, England. She grew up in a household rich in books and storytelling. Her father, a scientist and musician, read and recorded stories on tape. Her mother, an English teacher, made up stories to tell her children. Cross invented stories as a child, and begged for birthday presents of paper to write them down.

Besides amusing her younger brother and sister with stories, she created serialized, "fast fiction" to entertain friends during their long train ride to school. Cross always thought of her stories as "private writing"; she later felt inhibited by their clumsiness in comparison to the "official writing" she studied in literature classes.

Cross received her B.A. in English with first-class honors from Somerville College, Oxford, and completed her M.A. degree in 1972 and her doctorate in 1974 at the University of Sussex. The completion of...