Christopher Hope was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1944, moving to London in 1975. He is the author of twelve novels including winner of the Whitbread Novel Award, Kruger¿s Alp and the Booker shortlisted Serenity House. Hope's non-fiction includes a highly praised volume of autobiography, White Boy Running (1988), a travel book, Moscow! Moscow! (1990), which won a PEN Award and, as a journalist, seminal pieces on Dr Verwoerd, Emperor Bokassa and Milosevic.