Natty is the only child of a textile miller who couldn't afford to give him schooling, despite an early gift for reading and writing. He had his First Year at Hogwarts, a bright-eyed stint as a little Ravenclaw with great promise, but then left to apprentice for his father. In adulthood, when his parents were gone, he tried to make it as a writer, but lacked the name, education and connections to do so. But what he did find, quite by chance, was a wealthy old codger called Enoch Elmer, who fancied himself an author but lacked the skill. So he hired Natty as his ghost writer and here we are. Elmer is now an acclaimed author, and nobody knows that Jonathan Copper is the man behind the words.

These are the big happenings of his quiet life, but they're mostly matters of the mind. Things have happened to his heart, too. In his twenties Natty had a wife and child he loved dearly, but both passed away tragically. Since then Natty has been afraid to love again, living a chaste existence for almost ten years now.