Deborah Challinor is a well-known author from New Zealand, celebrated for her historical fiction and romance novels, as well as her non-fiction books. She was born in Huntly, New Zealand, and has spent a significant amount of time in Australia for research purposes. Challinor currently resides in Waikato, New Zealand, with her husband and cat. In addition to being an author, she is also an historian, often combining her two disciplines in her historical fiction, which she carefully researches before writing.
Challinor earned her Ph.D. in New Zealand History from the University of Waikato, having switched subjects from English to history during her undergraduate years. She has a deep appreciation for historical accuracy and ensures that all her work is based on actual historical events, which she researches in-depth. Before becoming a full-time writer and historian in 2000, Challinor wrote feature articles and an opinion column for a daily New Zealand newspaper, and taught researching and writing historical fiction at university level.
Some of Challinor's notable works include her first published book, a non-fiction history book titled Grey Ghosts: New Zealand Vietnam Vets Talk About Their War (Hodder Moa Beckett, 1998), and her first historical novel, Tamar, published in 2002. Her other historical novels include White Feathers (2003), Blue Smoke (2004), Union Belle (2005), Kitty (2006), Fire (2007), Amber (2007), and Isle of Tears (2009). She has also written about the Vietnam war. Challinor's novels have all been bestsellers, with six of them reaching number one in New Zealand. Her print books are sold in several countries, including Australia, the UK, Germany, Russia, and Czechoslovakia.