Born on February 17, 1912, in Cleveland, Ohio, Alice Mary Norton began writing as a teen-ager. By age twenty-one she had published her first book, The Prince Commands (1934), a historical novel for adults. After attending Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Norton became a children's librarian in the city's public library, a job she held from 1932 to 1950. She then accepted a job with the Library of Congress, and continued to write in her spare time, but by mid-decade the increasing popularity of her books per suaded her to devote all of her time to writing.

Norton's publishers warned her that readers would be reluctant to purchase adventure tales—traditionally focused on male protagonists, and targeted at a male audience—authored by an "Alice Mary." Norton adopted the pseudonym of "Andre Norton" for her works of fantasy and historical adventure; she began writing science fiction...