I grew up in Dearborn, Michigan, in the house on the cover of Book 3 of the Olivia series, not far from the location of Olivia's farm. For years I researched the backdrop for Olivia's story and based many of the details (including a baby in my family getting his name the way Mourning got the same name) on letters and journals passed down through my family, over seven generations of lives lived in the American Midwest. I also received a great deal of information and insight from my sister Martha, who lived in a modern log home, hunted her own land, cut her own firewood, and was as independent and stubborn as Olivia. While studying at the Universities of Michigan and Wisconsin, I spent two summers in Israel and ended up coming back to make my life here. Since then I've spent a lot of time traveling between the Middle East and the Midwest, loving both my homes.