Tracy Rose Chevalier is a renowned American-British novelist, born on October 19, 1962, in Washington, D.C. She is best known for her historical novels, particularly her second novel, Girl with a Pearl Earring, which gained international acclaim and was adapted into a 2003 film starring Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth.

Chevalier grew up as the youngest of three children. Her father worked as a photographer for The Washington Post. As a child, she was an avid reader, lying on her bed engrossed in books by authors such as Laura Ingalls Wilder, Madeleine L’Engle, and Susan Cooper. Her favorite book was Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery.

She pursued her higher education at Oberlin College in Ohio, where she earned a BA in English in 1984. Chevalier later moved to England and completed an MA in creative writing at the University of East Anglia in Norwich in 1994.