Dervla Murphy was born in Dublin in 1931. Her mother was invalided by arthritis and Dervla spent years caring for her, with occasional breaks bicycling on the Continent. Her mother’s death left her free to go farther afield and in 1963 she cycled to India. There she worked with Tibetan refugee children before returning home after a year to write her first two books. Full Tilt was published in 1965 and over twenty other travel books have followed.