Barbara Bourland writes compelling page-turners that tell timeless women's stories in new and engaging ways. Cast in the mold of universal literary forms—the detective story, the thriller, the fairytale—they weave in and out of their genres, until the plot turns inside out and the narrative, upon reflection, appears to be something else entirely. Her debut, I'll Eat When I'm Dead, examined the compulsion to control one’s appearance, and her second novel, Fake Like Me, a finalist for the 2020 Edgar Award for Best Novel, addressed the worry of never being good enough. Her latest novel, The Force of Such Beauty, which deconstructs the princess trope, will be published by Dutton in July 2022. She lives in Baltimore, where she is at work on her fourth novel, Fields and Waves, also forthcoming from Dutton. Her website is https://www.barbarabourland.com/.