Prudence Emery worked as the press and public relations officer at the Savoy Hotel, and later as a publicist on more than a hundred film productions. She is also the author of the bestselling memoir Nanaimo Girl (Cormorant Books, 2020).

Both Prudence and the fictional protagonist, Priscilla Tempest, held the job as press secretary at the Savoy. When asked just how much they had in common, Prudence would answer, with a twinkle in her eye, that “there are things that Priscilla does that I would never do... and there are things I have done that Priscilla would never do. I will not say anything else.”

Emery died in Victoria BC, on April 14, 2024, at the age of 88.