Julia Golding is a British writer of fiction, primarily historical fiction and fantasy for children and young adults. She uses two pen names for the YA or teen audience, Joss Stirling and Eve Edwards. "YA author" Stirling is covered by the Internet Speculative Fiction Database and "Eve Edwards is my historical fiction for young adults identity." Born in London, she grew up on the edge of Epping Forest. She originally read English at the University of Cambridge. She then joined the Foreign Office and worked in Poland. Her work as a diplomat took her many places including the Tatra Mountains and the bottom of a Silesian coal mine. Upon leaving Poland, she turned her attention to academic studies and took a doctorate in English Romantic Period literature at Oxford University. She then worked for Oxfam as a lobbyist on conflict issues, campaigning at the United Nations and with governments to lessen the impact of conflict on civilians living in war zones. Golding lives in Oxford and works as a freelance writer. She is married with three children. The Diamond of Drury Lane is her first novel, the first of the Cat Royal series.