Russell Hoban was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He started writing at an early age, winning prizes for his stories and poems during his school years.

He began writing children's books in 1958, and since then has published more than fifty titles. Many of these books were illustrated by Lillian Hoban, his first wife. In 1968, he published his first full-length novel, THE MOUSE AND HIS CHILD, widely regarded as a children's classic. It was later made into an animated film, featuring the voices of Peter Ustinov and Chloris Leachman.

He moved to London in 1969 (originally for a two-year stay) and has resided there ever since.

His first adult novel, THE LION OF BOAZ-JACHIN AND JACHIN-BOAZ was published in 1973, and many more followed. RIDDLEY WALKER, published in 1980, was his biggest publishing success, making the bestseller lists in the U.S. and garnering several awards including the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 1982, and the Australian Science Fiction Achievement Award in 1983. In 1985, his novel, TURTLE DIARY was adapted into a film featuring Ben Kingsley and Glenda Jackson. Harold Pinter wrote the screenplay.

Phil Ockerman falls for Bertha Strunk at a tango lesson in a church crypt in Clerkenwell. 'Is Bertha's trunk anything like Pandora's box?' he wonders. Each recently separated, both their Suns are squared by Neptune. Bertha is also the mirror image of seventeenth-century Venetian singer Barbara Strozzi (who Phil just happens to adore), to the point where Phil is no longer sure which is which.

On their first night together, Phil and 'Barbara' watch "The Rainmaker", a tale of battered wifery and the murder of an ex-husband. It turns out that Barbara's choice of film was not entirely innocent, and Phil suddenly finds himself carrying around a potential murder weapon.

Navigating the various lines of the London Underground, this intriguing book dances its way through a world of infidelity, writer's block, museums, fake eyeballs and baseball bats.