Linda Ruth Barlow was born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She is the author of fifteen published romance novels in various sub-genres, including family sagas, historical and contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and general mainstream fiction. Publishers have included Doubleday, Dell, Penguin, Warner Books, New American Library/Signet, Berkley/Putnam, Silhouette and Harlequin, and the books have been translated into approximately 20 foreign languages. Her novels have won numerous industry awards, including the Rita from Romance Writers of America (1989), Best New Historical Romance Author from Romantic Times (1986) and a Lifetime Achievement award from Romantic Times. She also contributed two essays to Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women, a collection of scholarly essays on the enduring appeal of the romance edited by Jayne Ann Krentz. This book won the Susan Koppelman Award for Excellence in Feminist Studies of Popular Culture and American Culture in 1993. She was Romance Writers of America’s keynote speaker at the annual conference in 1989. She served as President of Novelists, Inc. in 1992 and did two three-year terms on the Executive Council of the Authors Guild in the 1990s. When she is not at her computer writing, she is likely to be reading. She cannot imagine what her life would be like without books!