Jane Hamilton was born in 1957. She is the author of The Book of Ruth, winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award for First Fiction. A Map of the World, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year was named one of the top ten books of the year by Entertainment Weekly, Publishers Weekly, The Miami Herald, and People. Both The Book of Ruth and A Map of the World have been selections of Oprah's Book Club. A Map of the World was recently made into a major motion picture, starring Sigourney Weaver and Julianne Moore. Her work, The Short History of a Prince, was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 1998. She lives in Rochester, Wisconsin.