Although I was born in Washington, D.C., I grew up in the mountains of East Tennessee outside Chattanooga. Much to my sweet mother's bafflement, I always preferred dogs, horses, and the woods to dolls and playhouses. A shy kid who was sick a lot, I learned to love reading and creating my own stories--and avoiding wearing shoes at all costs. And though I've loved getting to live all over the country as an adult, including in New England, I still avoid footwear whenever possible. 

 

After earning a masters from a theological seminary and a doctorate in English lit., I taught 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 freshman composition papers graded, I finally get to do that--and I never forget to be grateful.

 

My 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 in the tumultuous 1890s, and the upcoming historical mystery A Bend of Light, set in coastal Maine in 1950.

 

My 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. 

 

In all my writing, I tend 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.

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My husband (who also moonlights as my trusted Head Research Assistant) and I have three young adult kids and live just south of Nashville, where a ferocious 10-pound Maltipoo totally rules the house.