She was born to Edward St John, a Queen's Counsel, the son of a Church of England clergyman.

[2] She went the University of Sydney to study arts where she was a contemporary of Bruce Beresford, John Bell, Clive James, Germaine Greer, Arthur Dignam, Robert Hughes[1] and Richard Walsh, whom her father defended in the first Oz obscenity trial in 1964.

[3] She married Christopher Tillam, a filmmaker, with whom she moved to San Francisco to live while he studied film.

[4] She died aged 64 at St Mary's Hospital, London, of emphysema and was cremated at Kensal Green Cemetery.

Under Australian director, Bruce Beresford the book has been made into a film, Ladies in Black, released in Australia September 2018.