Beverly Swerling is a consultant, writer, and amateur historian who grew up in the Boston suburb of Revere. As a child, she experienced a very different Revere than what it is today. The beach was a natural wonder, but the front was not lined with condo high-rises. Instead, it was a boardwalk with food stands, gambling games, a Ferris wheel, a roller coaster, and a tunnel of love. The town was predominantly Jewish or Italian, and because of the dog track - Wonderland - and a horse track - Suffolk Downs, there was a lot of off-track betting. Swerling's family rented rooms to bookies who needed to see the tote boards with binoculars to know how much they were liable to pay out.
Swerling went from this upbringing to a small Catholic girls college in the Midwest, then moved to New York for a job as a file clerk to support her writing. She started as a freelance journalist and later got married for a brief and unpleasant period. She then got married again, lived in Europe, wrote more non-fiction, and eventually started writing fiction. Swerling's husband runs the world's number one consultancy for authors looking for new agents, and she does some work for some of his clients. She also occasionally mentors new writers. Swerling was born in a Boston suburb, went to school there and in Kansas City, and has lived in many parts of the world, including England's Isle of Wight, and a Spanish Island just off the coast of Africa. Just now, she is in Philadelphia, but New York City remains her home base.