Kate Seredy was born in Budapest, Hungary, on November 10, 1899.

Her father was Louis Peter Seredy, a gifted teacher, and her mother was Anna Irany Seredy. After high school, Kate Seredy attended the Academy of Arts in Budapest for six years, where she received her art teacher's diploma. She served as a nurse in World War I and from 1918 until 1922 studied art each summer in Paris, Rome, and Berlin.

Seredy immigrated to the United States in 1922 and worked as an artist and illustrator of children's books until 1935. She also designed book covers and greeting cards. One day editor May Massee of Viking Press casually suggested that Seredy write a story about her childhood in Hungary. This exercise started her career as a writer in English, a language she had recently mastered.

Seredy published her first book, The Good Master, in 1935. All of her novels are...