Growing up in Pennsylvania’s Bucks County, Donna Esposito was inspired by the lives of past residents James A. Michener, Margaret Mead, Pearl S. Buck, and Oscar Hammerstein II. She earned an undergraduate degree in molecular biology with a minor in anthropology from Lehigh University and a doctoral degree in genetics from Cornell University, focusing on chloroplast gene expression. After overseeing a genetic testing laboratory for a dozen years, she made a radical career change to explore her other longtime interests in writing, museums and archives, World War II history, plants and ethnobotany, and the South Pacific.

Donna’s first novel, Flying Time, was published in 2016, setting off an unlikely series of events that led to her visiting the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Palau, the Marianas, and Sicily to explore World War II sites. While visiting Guadalcanal, she was involved in the repatriation of an American soldier, missing in action since 1943, and has researched numerous World War II servicemembers to bring closure to their families.

Donna is currently working on other writing projects, including Ivy Linden’s next adventure, from her home in upstate New York.