EVA MELUSINE THIEME was born in Germany, moved to the United States in 1991, and also spent several years living in Asia and Africa. She has a business degree from a German university too difficult to pronounce and an MBA from UNC Chapel Hill. With her four adult children now dispersed around the country, she has returned to North Carolina where she nurtures aspirations to write another book while keeping busy with co-owning and managing a small business and training her cat to sleep in.