As a London-trained ballet dancer who performed in Hollywood, taught at a Seattle dance school and changed her name to Anna Verite, Verity Sweeny Purdy first described her girlhood dancing career in The Luckiest Girl in the World. As Private V. Sweeny she toured from 1943 to 1946 with the Canadian Army Show that included comedians Frank Shuster and Johnny Wayne, plus female impersonators called the Tin Hats. Born in Vancouver in 1922 and raised in the West End of the city, Purdy resided in Comox when her second book appeared.