I live in New York’s Harl
em Valley with my husband. This is me with my dog Gulliver. Gulliver was the inspiration for the dog Ove in A True Princess. In fact, the cove
r artist used a photo of him to create the picture of Ove on the book cover.
I grew up in Ithaca, New York, where I spent most of my time reading children’s books. I read and re-read my favorites, and in high school I got the best job in town — in 
the children’s room of the public library, where I could keep on reading AND get paid for it. After college, I came to New York City and got a job in children’s book publishing, where at least part of my job (the part where I wasn’t typing really badly or forgetting to make lunch reservations for my boss) was to read still more children’s books. And finally I decided to write my own!
I love to travel, and I
get writing ideas from some of the places I’ve visited. This is the castle that inspired the palace in The Thirteenth Princess. It’s called Chenonceau, and it’s in the Loire Valley. It was built over a river, but unlike Zita’s palace, it’s not damp and moldy. Trips to Norway, Ireland, the Netherlands, England, France, Poland, and Italy have helped me create the settings for my other novels.