Mary Balogh

Her historical fiction is set in the Regency era (1811–1820) or the wider Georgian era (1714–1830).

• Name — Mary Jenkins Balogh • Pen Name — Mary Balogh • Birth Name — Mary Jenkins • Born — 24 March 1944 • Birthplace — Swansea, Wales • Occupation — Novelist • Language — English • Period — 1985–present • Genre — Romance • Spouse — Robert Balogh • Children — 3 • Website — http: MaryBalogh.com

Mary Jenkins was born and raised in Swansea, Wales, daughter of Mildred Double, a homemaker, and Arthur Jenkins, a signwriter and painter. She moved to Canada on a two-year teaching contract in 1967 after leaving university. There, she met and married her Canadian husband Robert Balogh, a coroner and ambulance driver, and settled in the small prairie town of Kipling, Saskatchewan. She taught high-school English for a number of years, and rose to the level of school principal. She has three children and five grandchildren.

As an adult, Balogh discovered the world of the Regency romance as written by Georgette Heyer. The vast majority of Balogh's novels have been set in Regency or Georgian England or Wales. Although she writes historical romances, Mary Balogh's heroines are often not "ladies". Some are courtesans, illegitimate, "fallen" or "ruined" women. All enjoy passion, and often a marriage and/or a sensual connection precedes recognition of love. Balogh began her writing career in 1983, when she wrote her first novel A Masked Deception in the evenings at the kitchen table while home and family functioned around her. A Masked Deception was accepted by Signet and published in 1985. Mary Balogh won the Romantic Times Award for best new Regency writer in that year. She is the author of more than 60 published novels and over 30 novellas, and has been met with critical success.