Preston was born on 18 January 1979, in the seaside town of Worthing in West Sussex, England.
[3] Preston was working as an investment banker in the early 2000s when the banking market collapsed and he turned to teaching and writing.
[2] Preston's second novel, The Revelations, was published in February 2012, while his third, In Love and War, was featured on BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime.
[8] His fourth novel, Winchelsea, is a historical fiction novel based on the activities of the Hawkhurst smuggling gang and set in the 18th century on the Sussex coast, was published in late 2022 by Canongate Books.
He is the grandson of Princeton University English professor and literary critic Samuel Hynes.