MARIA PADIAN has worked as a commercial radio news reporter, an essayist for public radio, a press secreterary for a U.S. Congressman, and a freelance writer. An avid tennis player, gardner, skiier, and hiker, she is also the mother of two teenagers, who, along with their friends, have provided countless ideas, inspirations, and insights for her writing. A graduate of Middlebury College, she has also attended the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, Oxford University, and the University of Virginia. She lives with her children and husband, and an Australian Shepherd, in Maine where she is at work on a new novel.