Sally Lou Watson was born in 1924 in Seattle, Washington, and expressed passion for reading and writing from an early age. Being uninterested in the traditional career options available for women at the time, she joined the Navy WAVES in 1944. She came to Reed College as a junior, and graduated with a degree in General Literature in 1950. After moving to California, she published “Highland Rebel” in 1954 which began her career as an author of historical fiction. Watson has more than a dozen titles to her credit, many of them young adult works centered around strong female characters. After the success of her first books, she traveled through Europe and learned Highland dancing before eventually moving to England. Due to changes in the book market, Watson took a break from writing around 1972 for about 30 years. She moved back to California, whereupon fans convinced her to continue publishing work. Additionally, she is a skilled artist, gardener, member of Mensa, avid cat-rescuer, and Judo black belt.

[References from Sally Watson bio page: https://web.archive.org/web/20180824190533/http://booksbysallywatson.com/bio/, and autobiographical essay: https://web.archive.org/web/20180816195951/http://imagecascade.com/sally-watson.html.]