This is an autobiographical account of the influences and people who have helped Rosemary Sutcliff in her personal development as a writer. The author is a well-established historical and children's novelist who has been awarded several prizes and in 1975 was honoured with an OBE for services to children's literature. Sutcliff recounts her early years when, as a victim of Still's Disease, a rare form of juvenile arthritis, she was unable to walk. After the war and a love affair which left a lasting impression on her life, she started to write. This book ends when her first manuscript was accepted by Oxford University Press.