Barbara McMahon was born on July 1 in northern Virginia. She grew upin Virginia, moving to California to attend the University of California atBerkeley. Upon graduation, she remained in California, making the SanFrancisco Bay Area her home base while she worked as a flight attendant foran international airline. What fun that job proved - flying to differentcities all over the world. On most trips, McMahon had layovers lasting a dayor two - enough time to see some of the local sights - and shops - and then it wason to the next country! She kept a journal while flying and today delightsin being able to use some of the descriptions she jotted down to addauthenticity to settings for some of her books. When McMahon's flying daysended, she began to work in the computer industry, rising to a vicepresidency in a software development firm.

In her "spare time," she decided to give in to a long cherished desire totry her hand at writing. One of the first things she discovered was thatwriting was one thing, but getting a book written is difficult to do whenthings like real-life interfere. But finally she finished a book, submittedit to a publisher, and Harlequin Mills & Boon bought it! Come into the Sun(1983) was the first of over three dozen books sold to Harlequin Mills &Boon and Silhouette. After that first sale, a new dream arose - to write for aliving and leave the hectic pace of the San Francisco Bay Area behind. Onceher younger daughter graduated from high school, she did just that - quittingher "day job" to move to the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. "It'sbeen wonderful!" reports McMahon. "I love every minute of living here!"

What's special about McMahon's books, besides her ability to put the readerin another world full of the adventure she's sampled, can be summed up inone word: characters. They arrive on the page with fully developed pasts.Often her heroes have experienced betrayal that has hardened them. Lesserwomen would give up and move on, but, like the author herself, McMahon'sheroines are empathetic and optimistic. They see the good in these honorablemen and patiently nurture them to become equal partners in a relationship.Sometimes it's the heroine who has a past to overcome. But always, she'sself-directed - a dynamic woman who knows what she wants and sets out to getit. For books with international settings, McMahon refers to her flightattendant's journal, but the American West is her favorite locale. She's asmuch at home on the back of a horse as she is behind an autograph table. Shehas participated in week-long horse drives, similar to the cattle drives inCity Slickers, attends local rodeos, the Grand National Rodeo in SanFrancisco, and county fairs.

To date, over five-and-a-half-million copies of her books have sold inthirty-five different countries in nineteen different languages. McMahon'sbooks routinely appear on the Waldenbooks bestseller list, the Ingram's Top50 Requested Romances, and Amazon.com's bestselling lists. Bride of aThousand Days made the USA Today bestseller list. With her recent nominationfor a Romance Writers of America RITA Award, her books have either won orbeen a finalist in every major award in the romance industry.

Dedicated to a strict work regimen to meet deadlines, she still finds timeto pursue her hobby of working on her family history, to serve on the boardof directors of the local woman's networking group, and read voraciously. Inmemory of her mother who died from the disease, she actively supports breastcancer research. McMahon is a member of Romance Writers of America,Novelists, Inc. and the NSDAR, which has nothing to do with writing, butdoes tie in with her love for genealogy!