Arabella Edge attended the Lycee in South Kensington. She completed her education at Bristol University, taking a degree in English literature. Edge moved to Australia in 1991 after her mother's death and worked as an editor. She published several short stories during the 1990s and pursued her interest in the 1629 wreck of the Batavia off the coast of Western Australia. Her research produced a short story and the prize-winning novel The Company (2000).