Ruth Taylor was born by the sea in Bournemouth, Dorset, setting a trend of attachment to oceans for the rest of her life. At the age of two she became a £10 POM – sailing to Australia with her family on the Assisted Passage Scheme.

Matthew Flinders was a familiar historical figure to Ruth living in Melbourne, where she trained as a nurse. Returning to the UK she worked on a Greek passenger liner. After studying medicine at Sheffield University she qualified as a doctor in 1978, and as an obstetrician and gynaecologist in 1983.

She retrained as a GP, working on cruise ships in her holidays until 2015. Researching the role of cats on ships in the National Maritime Museum, she came across Flinders and Trim and decided that their story had to be told for children. She lives in London with her husband and a rescue cat, who is nothing like Trim.