Jodi Picoult was born on May 19, 1966, in Long Island, New York, the daughter of Myron and Jane Picoult. She had a happy childhood growing up with her younger brother, Jonathan, in Nesconset, New York, on Long Island. Picoult began writing stories when she was young and continued the practice throughout her childhood. She also put her love of books to work with a job as a library page.

While a student at Princeton University, Picoult studied creative writing with such luminaries as Mary Morris and Robert Stone. During her student years, she published two short stories in Seventeen magazine. After earning her bachelor's degree in English in 1987, Picoult held several jobs. She worked for a brokerage firm on Wall Street as a technical writer, as a copywriter at a two-person advertising agency, and as a textbook editor. While teaching creative writing at a Massachusetts middle school...