DAVID PLANTE is the author of nine novels, including his Francoeur Trilogy—The Family, The Country, and The Woods. He has also written several works of nonfiction in addition to Difficult Women, most recently The Pure Lover, and published two volumes of selections from his diary, Becoming a Londoner and Worlds Apart. He lives in Lucca, Italy, and Athens, Greece.

SCOTT SPENCER is the author of eleven novels, including Endless Love, A Ship Made of Paper, Man in the Woods, and River Under the Road. He has taught at Columbia University, Williams College, University of Iowa, University of Virginia, and the Bard Prison Initiative.