Ann Major

Besides being a writer, Ann is a doctor's wife. When her editor suggested the title, THE SECRET LIVES OF DOCTORS' WIVES, Ann already had a story in mind. For three generations Ann's family has aspired to either be doctors or to marry doctors and have done so with great success. During the Depression, her grandfather, told his four sons to be doctors, saying, "If people don't have money, they'll pay you in chickens." Three of his sons became doctors, Ann's father being the only exception. Again, the next generation was advised to marry doctors or be doctors. "We girls were sort of told to go to nursing school to catch a doctor," Ann says. "Since I became an English and Spanish teacher, I didn't date many medical students. When the perfect husband, , also a doctor, fell into Ann's lap, and she became a doctor's wife, no one was more surprised than she. Instead of the easy life in a mansion, with country club memberships and luxury cars, she soon discovered that her life would be shaped more by what her husband did and by his long hours than by possessions. "Maybe some doctors' wives are shopaholics, but I have had to shoulder lots of responsibilities my husband didn't have the time to do. This has made me very independent and resourceful. On a darker note, I have known beautiful, unfulfilled doctors' wives who seem to have it all, but who are neglected or abused by controlling husbands with God-complexes. Some of these women lose their self-confidence and drift without purpose for years." A native of Texas, Ann is a founding board member of the Romance Writers of America. She has written 55 books and presently writes for Silhouette and Mira Books. December 2006 marks the release THE SECRET LIVES OF DOCTORS' WIVES, her seventh novel for MIRA Books. "This book was definitely inspired by my experiences as a doctor's wife."