Born in Washington, D.C., Joy grew up in the mountains of East Tennessee outside Chattanooga. Much to her sweet mother's bafflement, Joy always preferred dogs, horses and the woods to dolls and playhouses. A shy kid who was sick a lot, she learned to love reading and creating her own stories--and avoiding wearing shoes at all costs. Living all over the country as an adult, including in New England for years, she still avoids footwear whenever possible.

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After earning a masters from a theological seminary and then a masters and a Ph.D. in English lit., she loved getting to teach classes at a number of universities but longed to write full time. Two biological and one adopted child later, in addition to millions of diapers changed and gazillions of essays graded, she finally gets to do that--and never forgets to be grateful.

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Joy's upcoming historical mystery, A Bend of Light, set in post-WW2 coastal Maine, releases in fall. Her recent books include the bestselling novel A Tangled Mercy, a dual timeline story set in Charleston, South Carolina, Under a Gilded Moon, a historical mystery set at the Biltmore Estate during the Gilded Age. Her eight earlier books include, Blue Hole Back Home, winner of the 2009 Christy Award for Best First Novel and the Common Book selection for several universities, as well as nonfiction and two children’s picture books, A Crazy-Much Love and Sir Drake the Brave.

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In all her writing, Joy tends to be drawn to little-known historical events, to humor as well as tragedy, and to social issues and those big existential questions: the human capacity for brutality and bigotry, for example, as well as for remarkable courage and forgiveness. She and her husband (who also moonlights as her trusted Head Research Assistant) live just south of Nashville, where one teenager still lives at home full time and the other young adult kids pass through regularly. A ferocious 10-pound Maltipoo rules the house.