Alice Thompson was born in Edinburgh. She is the former keyboard player of post-punk eighties band, The Woodentops. She won The James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Justine. Her second novel, Pandora's Box, was shortlisted for The Stakis Prize for Scottish Writer of the Year. Her other novels are Pharos, The Falconer, The Existential Detective, Burnt Island, The Book Collector and, most recently, Chimera. She is a lecturer in Creative Writing at Edinburgh University.