After studying literature and social work, Joseph Ponthus worked for over ten years as a social worker and special needs teacher in the suburbs of Paris. In 2012 he co-authored Nous... La Cite (The Suburbs are Ours). His most recent work is A la Ligne(On the Line). He lives and works in Brittany, France. Stephanie Smee left a career in law to work as a literary translator. Recent translations include Hannelore Cayre’s The Inheritors and The Godmother (winner of the CWA Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger award), and Françoise Frenkel’s rediscovered World War II memoir, No Place to Lay One’s Head, which was awarded the JQ-Wingate Prize.