Maureen McCarthy, the ninth of ten children, grew up on a farm near Yea in Victoria. After working for a while as an art teacher, Maureen became a full-time script writer.Her novels include Ganglands, Cross My Heart (shortlisted for the 1993 NSW Premier's Award, the 1994 Victorian Premier's Award, the 1994 SA Festival Award and the 1994 Multicultural Children's Literature Award), Chain of Hearts (shortlisted for the Ethel Turner Prize in the 2000 NSW Premier's Literary Awards), Flash Jack and the In Between series, which was adapted from scripts Maureen co-wrote with Shane Brennan for the SBS TV mini-series. Her bestselling and much-loved book Queen Kat, Carmel and St Jude Get a Life was made into a highly successful four-part mini-series produced by Trout Films in association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. When You Wake and Find me Gone was published in 2002.