Robert Atkinson Westall was born on October 7, 1929, in Tynemouth, Northumberland, England, and lived in this same town—which resembles The Machine Gunners' Garmouth—during World War II. After graduating from a local high school, he continued his education at the University of Durham.

In the 1950s, he served two years as a corporal squadron clerk with the Royal Signals in the British Army and then returned to his studies at the University of London. He has taught art in a private secondary school, worked as an antiques dealer, and contributed freelance material to various newspapers and magazines.

Westall has written novels since 1941, when he was only twelve years old. The Machine Gunners, his first success, was not published until 1975. The inspiration for this story came from a newspaper article about a group of Dutch children who in 1969 found an Allied bomber, repaired...