Katrina Kittle remembers thinking of herself as a writer way back in grade school, although she never thought about writing for publication until she graduated from college. Former classmates to this day tease her about the interminable stories she was always writing about horses or bands of stray animals.

She inherited this love of books and storytelling from her dad, who encouraged her to read great books long before the same titles were required in school. Her dad still greets her at the door whenever she visits with, “Did you bring me any books?” Her curiosity, imagination, and passion for adventure come from her mom, who taught her always to look at the world with the discovering eyes of a child.

Katrina has written several novels for adults—The Blessings of the Animals, The Kindness of Strangers, Two Truths and a Lie, and Traveling Light—and one for young adults, Reasons to be Happy. Her characters are people we know, people we are, people we’ve been. They find themselves in circumstances they never imagined they’d face, and we are compelled to follow them as they find their way home, heal what’s broken, and discover strength they didn’t know they had.

Katrina’s new novel, Morning in This Broken World, was an Amazon First Reads pick for August, and released on September 1.