Gina McMurchy-Barber was the recipient of the 2004 Governor General’s Award for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History. She majored in archaeology at Simon Fraser University, studied orangutans in Borneo under Dr. Birute Galdikas, and led backpack tours to Asia and South America. Her first novel, Reading the Bones, was nominated for the Silver Birch Award and the Langley Book of the year Award. She lives in Surrey, British Columbia.