Carol Smith grew up in a London suburb and attended North London Collegiate School where she was encouraged to write and, later, to enter publishing as a career. She worked in the book world in many different jobs before setting up her own literary agency which specialised in finding and nurturing new talent.

After her own first three novels were published, she took the plunge and quit the day job. She has worked ever since as a full-time novelist, producing a book every year..

She lives in Kensington, West London, and shares an Edwardian mansion block flat with a pair of opinionated Burmese cats, Amadeus and Orlando.