Lisa Blackwell dreamed of becoming a librarian so she could read stories and get paid for it. When she discovered that wasn’t how it worked, she decided to become a writer instead. After nearly a decade in software, which allowed her to travel the world and write during layovers in foreign airports, she now lives and writes in her hometown with her husband and their two rescue cats, Juliet and Ripley. THE UNDERSTUDY is her debut novel. She is represented by Elizabeth Copps at Copps Literary Services.