Jacquelyn Mitchard is a journalist and award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of twelve novels for adults, seven novels for teenagers, and five children's books. These include The Deep End of the Ocean, the inaugural selection of the Oprah Winfrey Book Club, as well as two non-fiction books, including Mother Less Child: The Love Story of a Family. She is also a professor of creative writing whose short stories, articles, essays and book reviews have been widely published. A native of Chicago, she now lives on Cape Cod with her family.