Andre Pohlman was born in Poland, and as a child experienced the Nazi occupation of Poland and the Red Army siege of Budapest. He was educated in England, Argentina and the United States. He did his undergraduate and graduate (PhD) work at the University of California, Berkeley and worked as a scientist before his retirement. He now lives in Northern California with his wife Ruth. The novel was inspired by his mother's tales told to him after the war and his own experiences in Hungary during the war years.