Eliza Fay (1756-1816) is thought to have been born in Blackheath, South London. Very little is known for certain about her background, even her maiden name is a mystery. Her father may have been a sailor, and it is possible that she trained as a dressmaker in France. Her recorded life begins with her marriage to the Irish lawyer Anthony Fay when she was in her early twenties. Not long after, the pair embarked on their voyage to India. The haphazard nature of the journey has led to speculation that Anthony was sent to Calcutta to prepare for the eventual impeachment of Sir Elijah Impey, chief justice of Bengal. The couple separated only a few years after settling in Calcutta, and Mrs. Fay returned to England. Striking out on her own, she made several more trips to India in conjunction with a variety of ruinous business schemes, including one that brought her to New York. She died at the age of sixty, penniless, in Calcutta.

E.M. Forster (1879-1970) was a critic and novelist. Among his books are A Room with a View, A Passage to India, Howards End, and Aspects of the Novel. He discovered Eliza Fay's Letters while living in India in 1921-22 and published two articles about her journey before compiling the notes that were originally published in the 1925 edition of the book.

Simon Winchester is the author of, among other titles, The Professor and the Madman, Krakatoa, The Map That Changed the World, and The Man Who Loved China. He has written two books relating to India, where he was based as a foreign correspondent from 1976-1979, Stones of Empire (with Jan Morris) and, most recently Calcutta. His newest book is Atlantic: A Biography of the Ocean. He lives in New York and the Berkshires.