Thomas Wiseman was born in Vienna in January 1931 of Jewish parentage. He escaped to England with his mother in 1939, shortly before the outbreak of war. His father, an officer in the First World War, had arranged their escape with his contacts in high places, but he remained behind, believing he could rely on these "contacts" to protect him. In this he was ultimately to be proved mistaken, and he died in Buchenwald concentration camp. Elements of this story have feature in three of Wiseman's novels, The Quick and the Dead, Journey of A Man, The Time Before the War, and in his play The Dealer.