Mary Ann Shaffer was born in 1934 in Martinsburg, West Virginia. She worked as an editor, a librarian and in bookshops. She became interested in Guernsey while visiting London in 1976. On a whim, she decided to fly to Guernsey but became stranded there as a heavy fog descended and no boats or planes were permitted to leave the island. As she waited for the fog to clear, she came across a book called Jersey Under the Jack-Boot, and so her fascination with the Channel Isles began.
Many years later, when goaded by her own literary club to write a book, Mary Ann naturally thought of Guernsey. Mary Ann died in February 2008. She knew that this, her only novel, was to be published in thirteen countries. Annie Barrows is the author the best-selling Ivy and Bean series for children, as well as The Magic Half and Magic in the Mix, and, most recently, a young adult novel entitled Nothing.
Her second novel for adults, The Truth According to Us, was published in 2015. She lives with her family in Northern California.