Jessica Duchen is a music critic, author and librettist. Following twelve years with the Independent, she is a contributor to publications that have included the I Newspaper, The Sunday Times and BBC Music Magazine. Her librettos include extensive work with composer Roxanna Panufnik, notably Silver Birch, shortlisted for an International Opera Award in 2018. Among her other books are biographies of Korngold and Fauré and seven novels on music-related topics. She lives in East Sheen, London SW14.

Ambra Edwards is a journalist with a special interest in garden history, and the people, passions and often surprising stories that lie behind our gardens. Three times voted the Garden Media Guild's Garden Journalist of the Year  (2006, 2009 and 2015), she is a regular contributor to the Guardian, the Telegraph, Gardens Illustrated, Hortus and Country Living. Her most recent book is The Story of the English Garden (Pavilion, 2018). She lives in Dorset.