Colleen McCullough was an Australian author raised in Sydney. Before pursuing writing, she trained as a neurophysiologist and worked at hospitals and universities in Australia and abroad. In 1974, while working as a research assistant at the Yale School of Medicine, she published her first novel, Tim. McCullough's second novel, The Thorn Birds, published in 1977, became an international bestseller. The book sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and was adapted into a successful television miniseries, establishing McCullough as a major figure in contemporary fiction.