Lore Groszman was born in Vienna, Austria, the daughter of a bank accountant. In 1938, when the Nazis came into power, her father was fired because of his ethnicity, and in 1939 her parents sent her to England to escape the Nazis. She lived in several foster homes and wrote the British government to convince them to allow her parents to join her in England. Her father was interned in a Scottish camp for and died shortly before the end of the war. Lore and her mother stayed in England. Lore received a degree in English Literature from Bedford College of the University of London. In 1951, Lore immigrated to the United States and settled in New York City. She worked and wrote short stories, which were published in magazines. In 1961, she married David Segal in 1961, with whom she had two children. She began to write children's books, and in 1964, she published her first book, Other People's Houses, which was based on her experiences as a child refugee. In 1968 she began teaching writing at Columbia University School of the Arts. In 1970, her husband died. She continues to live in New York City and to write.