Kay Brellend was born in north London and her first saga, based in the early twentieth century slums of Islington, was published in 2011. She drew inspiration for The Street from her grandmother's reminiscences about growing up in 'the Bunk' as the notorious road was known. Her own mother was born there in 1921.

The ensuing Campbell Road series of seven book was followed by more gritty East End and World War sagas, but she has turned her attention to the Victorian era for the Match Factory Girls series of books published by Boldwood and set in the time of the infamous Whitechapel murders.

Kay has worked as a shop assistant, an oil company secretary and a library assistant. She's also been a property developer and landlady. She now concentrates on writing and lives in a village in Hertfordshire where an unruly garden also keeps her busy.