Robert Beatty is the author of the #1 New York Times best-selling companion to this book, Willa of the Wood, as well as the best-selling Serafina series, four spooky mystery-thrillers about a brave and unusual girl who lives secretly in the basement of the grand Biltmore Estate.
Serafina and the Black Cloak was a #1 New York Times bestseller, was on the list for more than 60 weeks, and won the prestigious 2016 Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize. The second book in the series, Serafina and the Twisted Staff, became a #1 New York Times bestseller in the first week of its launch and earned a starred review from Kirkus, which said, "Even better than its predecessor, a sequel that delivers nonstop thrills from beginning to end." Willa of the Wood was also an instant New York Times bestseller, debuting at #1 and landing on several best-of-the-year lists. Enjoyed by both young readers and adults, Robert's books are being taught in more than a thousand classrooms nationwide.
Robert Beatty lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville, North Carolina with his wife and three daughters, who help create and refine his stories. He loves to explore Biltmore Estate, the Great Smokey Mountains, and the darkened forest trails where his novels take place. He writes full-time now, but in his past lives, Robert was one of the early pioneers of cloud computing, the founder/CEO of Plex Systems, the co-founder of Beatty Robotics, and the chairman/CTO of Narrative Magazine. In 2007, he was named an Entrepreneur of the Year. When asked about the inspiration for his books, Robert said, "They grew out of my desire to write a story about an unusual and heroic young girl for my three daughters."