Rebecca was born in Cambridge, England and has lived since in Durham, Elland, Bristol, Chicago, Geneva and Oxford. She is the author of seven published works of fiction and non-fiction and the editor of two anthologies of writing.   

Her fiction debut, Touching Distance (Picador), based on the true story of a science-changing 18th century epidemic, was shortlisted for the McKitterick Prize for Literature and praised by Hilary Mantel as ‘beautifully worked - shockingly intimate but with an epic feel.’

She has written widely on Jewish history and culture. Her publications include The Jewish Journey: 4000 years in 22 objects (Ashmolean Museum) and Licoricia of Winchester: Power and Prejudice in Medieval England (LOWA), and the forthcoming edited volume, The Exodus Story: model, myth and metaphor (Brandeis University Press and Profile Books, 2027).

Her first book When Parents Die: Learning to Live with the Loss of a Parent, was published in 1991 and has been continually in print ever since. Now in a fully updated 3rd edition, When Parents Die was shortlisted for a MIND Award and is an established classic in its field.

She is also the author of the best-seller, Three Shoes One Sock and No Hairbrush: Everything you need to know about having a second child; Woman in a Man’s World: Pioneering career women of the 20th century, and The Playful Self: Why women need play in their lives.

Rebecca has taught creative writing in schools, universities and privately for twenty years, including for Oxford University, the Arvon Foundation, the Oxford Centre for Life-Writing, First Story, Gladstone’s Library, and The Literary Consultancy. From 2017-20 she was the Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Brasenose, College, Oxford.

A former columnist on the Daily Telegraph and radio producer for the BBC, Rebecca is a regular literary critic for the Financial Times. She has contributed to the national press for over 30 years as a feature writer, book critic and commissioning editor, and is the recipient of an Amnesty International Press Award. Her articles have appeared in the Financial Times, Guardian, Vogue, New Statesman, Sunday Times, Daily Mail, and Independent.