Jean Rae Baxter was born in Toronto, grew up in Hamilton, and spent much of her adult life in the Kingston area. She started writing full-time a dozen years ago, following a career in education. She writes for both adults and young adults. Her first novel, The Way Lies North (Ronsdale Press, 2007), won the 2008 Arts Hamilton award for best Young Adult novel, and was also a nominee for the Ontario Library Association's Red Maple Award and for British Columbia's Stellar award. In 2011 Ronsdale Press published Broken Trail, the sequel to The Way Lies North. Freedom Bound completes her trilogy of novels telling the stories of young people caught up in the violence of the American Revolution.… She has also published two collections of short stories, A Twist of Malice and Scattered Light and a literary murder mystery, Looking for Cardenio. Jean Rae Baxter currently lives in Hamilton, where she is co-chair of Hamilton Arts Council's Literary Advisory Committee and serves as one of the organizers of the LiT LiVe Reading Series.