Born in New York City in 1915, Condon first worked as a Hollywood publicist before giving it up to write his first novel in 1959 at the age of 44.

 

He and his wife Evelyn married young, had two daughters and travelled in Europe with his job at United Artists, living in Madrid and Paris in the 50's. Once he took up writing full time, he lived in Mexico City and Switzerland in the 60's and then Ireland in the 70's, before returning to the United States in 1980 where they settled in Dallas, Texas. 

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As a great lover of restaurants, Condon also wrote for Gourmet Magazine. This called for further travel with Evelyn around many countries including Australia, South America, England and many other places, reviewing restaurants as they went.

 

The move to Ireland prompted them to buy a house for the first time. The house they bought was in dire need of repair. Designed by James Hoban, who also built the White House in Washington, Rossenarra was a major project, the details of which are recounted in Condon's autobiographical memoir "And Then We Moved to Rossenarra."

 

During this period, Condon and his younger daughter Wendy worked on a cookbook entitled "The Mexican Stove". They sourced all the ingredients and experimented with recipes in the basement, which had been converted into a large commercial kitchen. 

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He has three grandchildren, Jemma, Benito and Hilary.