The only child of parents who worked at a top security psychiatric hospital, Frances Vick grew up receiving disquieting notes and presents from the inmates. Expelled from school, she spent the next few years on the dole, augmenting her income by providing security and crewing for gigs and being a medical experiment guinea pig. Later jobs included working in a theatre in Manhattan, teaching English in Japanese Junior High Schools, and being a life model in Italy, before coming back to London and working with young offenders and refugees. Her first novel Chinaski was published in 2014. Her bestselling second novel Bad Little Girl came out in February 2017. Her critically acclaimed third novel Liars came out the following year and Two Little Girls was published in April 2019.