“Did she ever feel nostalgia for any of her girlhood dreams? But life was made up of a succession of dreams, some few to be realized, most to be set aside as time went on, one or two to persist for a lifetime. It was knowing when to abandon a dream, perhaps, that mattered and distinguished the successful people in life from the sad, embittered persons who never moved on from the first of life's great disappointments. Or from the airy dreamers who never really lived life at all.”

Welsh-Canadian novelist, historical romance

Mary Balogh is a Welsh-Canadian novelist, born and raised in Swansea, known for her historical romance. She moved to Canada in 1967 to begin a teaching career, later settling in Kipling, Saskatchewan, where she became a school principal. Her debut novel was published in 1985. Balogh writes historical fiction set in the Regency era, or more broadly in the Georgian period, and her work is rooted in that setting’s social codes, relationships, and changing manners.