Emily Critchley grew up in Essex and has lived in Brighton and London, where she worked as a bookseller in one of London's largest bookshops. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck, University of London. Her young adult crossover debut Notes on my Family was nominated for the Carnegie Medal, longlisted for the Branford Boase and Book of the Week in the Sunday Times. One Puzzling Afternoon, her debut adult novel, was selected as an Indie Fiction Book of the Month. The Undoing of Violet Claybourne is her second novel.