New York Times bestselling and Carnegie Medal-nominated author Megan Shepherd grew up in her family s independent bookstore in the Blue Ridge Mountains. She is the author of many acclaimed novels for adults and kids, including Malice House, The Madman's Daughter series, The Cage series, The Secret Horses of Briar Hill, Dog Star, and the Grim Lovelies series. She now lives and writes on a haunted 125-year-old farm outside Asheville, North Carolina, with her husband and children, cats, chickens, bees, and an especially scruffy dog.