Herz Bergner was born in Poland in 1907 and migrated to Australia with his wife in 1938. His first book, The New House, published in 1941, was a collection of short stories about immigrants adapting to life in a new land. Between Sky and Sea was translated from Yiddish into English by Australian Jewish novelist Judah Waten, and published in 1946 to great acclaim. Herz Bergner died in 1970.