Eve Hufnagel Cone was born in Okarche, Oklahoma, and lived on a large wheat and cattle farm while attending Holy Trinity Elementary/High School. At age sixteen she left for Mount Carmel Academy, Wichita, Kansas, and then on to Saint Mary College in Leavenworth, Kansas. After two years there, she joined the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth and taught in community high schools for 15 years, after which she joined the Peace Corps and spent two years in Malawi, East Central Africa. On returning to the United States she taught for ten years at John Adams Junior High School in Santa Monica, California. Spiraling is her autobiographical memoir in poetry and prose.