A popular American author, she has written over twenty novels and has fourteen million books in print worldwide. Her best known and best-selling novels include The Pact, Nineteen Minutes, Change of Heart, and My Sister's Keeper.
She graduated from Princeton University in 1987 with a degree in writing. She edited textbooks and taught eighth-grade English before publishing her first novel, Songs of the Humpback Whale, in 1992.
Her novel, Nineteen Minutes, debuted on the New York Times Best Seller list in the coveted #1 spot.
She was raised on Long Island, New York, and later, in New Hampshire. In 1989, she married Timothy Warren Van Leer; together, the couple had three children (Kyle, Sammy, and Jake).
She and Jon Spaihts both attended Princeton University.