Shirley Mann is a Derbyshire-based journalist who spent most of her career at the BBC. She and went onto make films for organisations such as the Heritage Lottery Fund. Her first novel, Lily's War, was inspired by Shirley's mother, who was a WAAF and her father who was in the Eighth Army. She has since gone on to write 4 more inspiring novels about strong women stepping outside their traditional roles during the Second World War.