American novelist who wrote The Secret Life of Bees (2002), which was produced on stage in New York and adapted into a film. She is also the author of such Christian and feminist-themed works as When the Heart Waits (1990) and The Dance of the Dissident Daughter (1996). She graduated from Texas Christian University with a B.S. in nursing and worked as a registered nurse. She first contemplated a career in writing when she had an essay published in Guideposts magazine.
