Catherine Webb is a British author, educated at the Godolphin and Latymer School, London, and the London School of Economics. She was 14 years old when she completed Mirror Dreams, which was written during her school holidays. Her father is author and publisher Nick Webb, and he suggested she should send the manuscript to an agent he knew, who eventually offered to represent her. The book was published in 2002 by Atom Books, part of Time Warner, and Webb was named Young Trailblazer of the Year by the magazine CosmoGirl UK. She has published eight young adult novels, all with Atom Books, and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, from which she graduated in 2010.
Webb prides herself on the scientific and historical accuracy of her Horatio Lyle books. A lifelong Londoner, she enjoys walking through the areas she describes in her books — Bethnal Green, Clerkenwell, and along the River Thames — comparing the city of London as it is now to how it was at various times in the past. She appeared in CosmoGirl in 2006/7 in an interview and inspired many young writers to try to get their works published.