Elizabeth Lowell is actually a pen name for the real person named Ann Charters Maxwell. Maxwell was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1944. She was educated at the University of California, Davis and the University of California, Riverside, where she received a B.A. in 1966. She married Evan Maxwell, a journalist, on September 4, 1966. They have published numerous novels together including The Silk Strategy, The Ruby, Steal the Sun, Redwood Empire, and The Golden Mountain. Maxwell started her writing career in 1975 with the science fiction novel Change. She has written over 60 novels and one non-fiction book. The novels range from science fiction to historical fiction, from romance to mystery to suspense. She has written under numerous pen names including A. E. Maxwell, Annalise Sun, and Lowell Charters. In 1982, she began publishing romance novels as Elizabeth Lowell. She was awarded the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award in 1994, Romance Writers of America Best Historical Romance in 1994, and the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994. Her title Beautiful Sacrifice made The New York Times Best Seller List for 2012. (Bowker Author Biography)