Marion Halligan is an award-winning novelist, essayist and short-story writer. Her novel The Fog Garden was shortlisted for a swag of distinguished literary prizes including the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and her previous novel The Golden Dress was shortlisted for the Dublin IMPAC Prize and the Miles Franklin Award. She has also received the Age Book of the Year, the ACT Book of the Year, the Nita B. Kibble Award, the Steele Rudd Award, the Braille Book of the Year, the 3M Talking Book of the Year and the Geraldine Pascall prize for critical writing. Marion Halligan's previous books are the novels The Point, Spider Cup, Lovers' Knots and Wishbone; many books of essays, non-fiction and short stories, including Collected Stories, Eat My Words, Out of the Picture and Cockles of the Heart; a children's book, The Midwife's Daughters; and Those Women Who Go to Hotels, co-written with Lucy Frost. The Apricot Colonel is her latest novel.