Jill McCorkle has written eight books of fiction including Creatures of Habit, The Cheerleader, Carolina Moon, and Ferris Beach.  Her books have been five times named New York Times Notables. McCorkle has won the New England Booksellers Award, the John Dos Passos Prize for Excellence in Literature, and the North Carolina Award for Literature.  She has taught at the University of North Carolina, Bennington College, Tufts University, and Harvard. A native of Lumberton, North Carolina, she lives near Boston.