Ophelia Field was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and the London School of Economics. She has worked as a policy analyst and consultant for a wide range of refugee and human rights organisations, including Human Rights Watch, UNHCR, English PEN and the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights. Simultaneously, Ophelia researched and wrote The Favourite, originally published in 2002, and The Kit-Cat Club, which in 2008 was selected by the Financial Times as one of their History Books of the Year. She lives in London, with her partner and children.