I'd like to introduce Sandra Gulland, author of the recently published novel, Mistress of the Sun.

The story is set in 17th century France, at the glamorous court of the Sun King. To describe the novel, reviewers have used words like irresistible, brilliant, captivating — and dangerously seductive.

Sandra has also published an internationally best-selling trilogy of novels based on the life of Josephine Bonaparte, Napoleon's wife.

Born in Miami, Florida, Sandra lived in Rio de Janeiro, Berkeley and Chicago before going to Canada in 1969 to teach in an Inuit village in northern Labrador for one year.

Settling in Toronto, she worked as a book editor for a decade before moving with her husband and two children into a log house in northern, rural Ontario.

In 1985, she began writing full-time. Ten years later, the first of the novels in the Josephine B. trilogy was published.

She thought, when she began writing, that she would never find a publisher. Now the trilogy is published in 13 languages, 15 countries, and has sold more than a million copies world-wide.

It took Sandra eight years of research and writing to complete Mistress of the Sun — but it was well worth the wait. Already it has been picked as a favorite by readers and bookstores all across the country.

Please welcome, Sandra Gulland.