Jody Hedlund is an American bestselling author of Christian historical romance, known for combining carefully researched settings with faith, family conflict and emotionally intense love stories. Based in central Michigan, she is the mother of five children and has written more than sixty books. Many of her novels are inspired by real people, social movements and little-known episodes of history, with particular attention to women confronting poverty, migration, dangerous journeys and restrictive social expectations. Her work ranges from conventional historical romance to medieval adventure, western romance and time-travel fiction.
Her early Hearts of Faith novels include The Preacher’s Bride, inspired by John and Elizabeth Bunyan, The Doctor’s Lady, based on missionaries Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, and Rebellious Heart. She has written the Michigan Brides collection, the lighthouse-centred Beacons of Hope series, the Orphan Train trilogy and the Bride Ships novels about women sent from Britain to colonial Canada. Other series include A Shanahan Match, Bride Ships: New Voyages, Colorado Cowboys, Colorado Cowgirls, High Country Ranch and Noble Ranch. Hedlund has also fictionalised the relationships of Martin Luther and Katharina von Bora in Luther and Katharina and John Newton and Polly Catlett in Newton and Polly, while her Noble Knights, Lost Princesses, Fairest Maidens and Knights of Brethren series bring romance and adventure to imagined medieval settings.