After playing hooky one day in the seventh grade to read Gone With the Wind, Karen White knew she wanted to be a writer--or become Scarlett O'Hara. In spite of these aspirations, Karen pursued a degree in business and graduated cum laude with a BS in Management from Tulane University. Ten years later, after leaving the business world, she fulfilled her dream of becoming a writer and wrote her first book. In the Shadow of the Moon was published in August, 2000. This book was nominated for the prestigious RITA award in 2001 in two separate categories. Her books have since been nominated for numerous national contests including two more RITAs, the Georgia Author of the Year Award and in 2008 won the National Readers' Choice Award for Learning to Breathe.

Karen currently writes what she refers to as 'grit lit'--southern women's fiction--and has recently expanded her horizons into writing a mystery series set in Charleston. Her twelfth novel, On Folly Beach, was released in trade paperback by New American Library, a division of Penguin Publishing Group, in May, and remained on the New York Times bestseller list for five weeks.

Karen hails from a long line of Southerners but spent most of her growing up years in London, England and is a graduate of the American School in London. She currently lives near Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and two teenage children, and a spoiled Havanese dog (who appears in several of her books), Quincy. When not writing, she spends her time reading, singing, playing piano, and avoiding cooking. Her most recent book, Falling Home, was published on November 2nd, 2010 and she is currently contracted with Penguin for three more novels. http://www.karen-white.com