Lynne Jones is a child psychiatrist, relief worker and writer. She has spent much of the last twenty-five years establishing and running mental health programmes in areas of conflict or natural disaster. Her previous book, Then They Started Shooting: Children of the Bosnian War and the Adults They Become, explores children's understanding of political violence. Her field diaries have been published in the London Review of Books and O, The Oprah Magazine, and her audio diaries broadcast on the BBC World Service.

Jones has an MA in human sciences from the University of Oxford. She qualified in medicine before specialising in psychiatry and has a PhD in social psychology and political science. In 2001, she was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for her work in child psychiatry in conflict-affected areas of Central Europe. She regularly consults for WHO. She is currently working as a child psychiatrist in Cornwall, is an honorary consultant at the South London and Maudsley NHS trust in London, and is a visiting scientist at the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University.