Elaine Forrestal lives and works in the beach suburb of Scarborough, Western Australia, where she shares a house with her husband, Peter and an Axle look-alike called Fling. She enjoys, swimming, walking, reading, travelling and catching up with her many friends in different parts of the world. Elaine has had magazine articles and short stories published, and has also written for children's television. Three of her novels, The Watching Lake, Straggler's Reef and Deep Water were shortlisted for the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards. Her novel Someone Like Me was commended in the 1997 National Association for Special Education Needs Children's Book Awards in the UK and won the Western Australian Young Readers' Hoffman Award. It also won the 1998 Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award for Younger Readers. Another of her novels, Graffiti on the Fence, was shortlisted in 2000 for the same award. Deep Water was a 2004 Children's Book Council Notable Book.