Mary Wesley was born in Berkshire. She wrote two children's books before publishing her first adult novel in 1983 at the age of 70. Since then she has produced a succession of books dealing with middle-class mores, each written with ironic, detached amusement, and taking an unblinkered, though compassionate look at sexual values. One of the best known is The Camomile Lawn, which considers sexual and emotional relationships in the turmoil of World War II. It, like several of her novels has been made into a television series.