Mary Balogh grew up in Wales, and after graduating from university, moved to Saskatchewan, Canada, to teach high-school English. Her first Regency love story, A Masked Deception, was published in 1985. She has written more than seventy novels and almost thirty novellas since then, including the New York Times bestselling Slightly sextet and Simply quartet. She has won numerous awards, including Bestselling Historical of the Year from the Borders Group, and her novel Simply Magic was a finalist in the Quill Awards. She lives in Regina, Canada.