Helen Forrester was born in Hoylake, Cheshire in 1919 and was the eldest of seven children. She was the author of four phenomenally successful volumes of autobiography and many equally popular novels. Helen’s memoirs recount the years of hardship that she and her family suffered in Depression-era Liverpool, the city that features prominently throughout her work. In 1950, Helen married her husband, Avadh, and moved to India, far away from her Merseyside home. They eventually settled in Alberta, Canada where she lived for almost sixty years. Helen was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Liverpool in 1988 and by the University of Alberta in 1993. There have been a number of successful stage interpretations of Twopence to Cross the Mersey, most recently in 2016 at Liverpool’s Royal Court Theatre. Helen died in 2011 aged ninety-two and her writing continues to inspire readers around the world.