A Note About the Author.

Jane Smiley was born in Los Angeles, grew up in St. Louis, and studied at Vassar and the University of Iowa, where she received her Ph.D. She is the author of six previous works of fiction, including The AKe of Grief (which was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award), The Greeiilattders, and Orditary Love & Good Will. She teaches at Iowa State University and lives in Ames, Iowa.

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