Janet Miriam Caldwell, known by her pen names Taylor Caldwell, Marcus Holland, and Max Reiner, was a British-born American novelist and a prolific author of popular fiction. She was also known by a variation of her married name, J. Miriam Reback.

In her fiction, she often used real historical events or persons. Taylor Caldwell's best-known works include Dynasty of Death, Dear and Glorious Physician (about Saint Luke), Ceremony of the Innocent, Pillar of Iron (about Cicero), The Earth is the Lord's (about Genghis Khan), and Captains and the Kings. Her last major novel, Answer As a Man, appeared in 1980.

Taylor Caldwell was born in Manchester, England. In 1907, she emigrated to the United States with her parents and younger brother. Her father died shortly after the move, and the family struggled. At the age of eight, she started to write stories and wrote her first novel, The Romance of Atlantis, at the age of twelve, although it remained unpublished until 1975. Despite her father's disapproval of such activities for women and her subsequent work in a bindery, she continued to write prolifically. In 1947, according to TIME magazine, she discarded and burned the manuscripts of 140 unpublished novels. From 1918 to 1919, she served in the United States Navy Reserve.