About the Author

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Carla Kelly is a veteran of the New York and international publishing world. The author of more than forty novels and uncounted novellas for Donald I. Fine Co., Signet, and Harlequin, Carla is the recipient of two Rita Awards (think Oscars for romance writing) from Romance Writers of America and two Spur Awards (think Oscars for western fiction) from Western Writers of America. She is also a recipient of Whitney Awards for Borrowed Light, My Loving Vigil Keeping, and Softly Falling.

Recently, she’s been writing Regency romances (think Pride and Prejudice) set in the Royal Navy’s Channel Fleet during the Napoleonic Wars between England and France. She comes by her love of the ocean from her childhood as a Navy brat.

Carla’s history background makes her no stranger to footnote work, either. During her National Park Service days at the Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site, Carla edited Friedrich Kurz’s fur trade journal. She also wrote a short history of Fort Buford, where Sitting Bull surrendered in 1881.

The Kellys have lived in Idaho Falls, Idaho, since 2014 and have no particular plans to move again. On a clear day, they can see the Tetons from their neighborhood and enjoy proximity to Yellowstone National Park. Carla enjoys speaking at book clubs, visiting friends and family, and writing, always writing.

She owes a tremendous debt to Miss Jean Dugat, her English and journalism teacher at A.C. Jones High School in Beeville, Texas. “She was a dragon,” Carla remembers. “She made us work hard to find the right phrase, the correct sentence, the accurate footnote.” Carla also remembers her epiphany at the end of her sophomore year. “I decided that if I worked hard and listened to Miss D, I might be a writer some day. What a teacher.”