Tawni O'Dell, born and raised in the coal-mining region of Indiana, Pennsylvania, is an American novelist. She is the *New York Times* bestselling author of *Fragile Beasts*, *Sister Mine*, *Coal Run*, and *Back Roads*, which was an Oprah's Book Club pick in March 2000. Her work has been translated into 15 languages and published in over 30 countries. The first in her family to attend college, she graduated from Indiana High School and then from Northwestern University with a degree in journalism. She lived for many years in the Chicago area before moving back to Pennsylvania, where she now lives with her two children. Source: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawni_O'Dell)