Polly was born in 1942 in London, England. (PROSE: The Murder Game) She spent much of her early life in Devon. (PROSE: Invasion of the Cat-People) She was the only daughter of Dr Edward Wright and his wife, the former Miss Bettingham-Smith. By 1944, her father's younger brother, Randolph, had been imprisoned in a Nazi prisoner of war camp, where he died. In contrast, Edward survived World War II. He fathered three more sons and told Polly stories of her uncle.