Irene Marcuse spent her formative years in Berkeley, California in the late '60s, then dropped out of college to pursue careers as a waitress, bartender, and wallpaper hanger. In the late '80s she moved to New York where she earned a degree in Literature and Creative Writing, followed by an MSW, from from Columbia University. After becoming the assistant director of a community-based organization serving the elderly, Irene left her job to write full-time. The granddaughter of philosopher Herbert Marcuse, she lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with her husband and daughter.