Sara Gruen

Gruen was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. She recounts being left to survive on her own at age 15 as a street urchin. She grew up in London, Ontario, and attended Carleton University in Ottawa to get a degree in English literature. She continued to live in Ottawa for 10 years after graduation.
Gruen moved to the United States from Ottawa in 1999 for a technical writing job. When she was laid off two years later, she decided to try writing fiction. Gruen is an animal lover; both her first novel, Riding Lessons, and her second novel, Flying Changes, involve horses. Gruen's third book, the 1930s circus drama Water for Elephants, was initially turned down by her publisher at the time, Avon Books; as a result, Gruen found another publisher, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. It went on to become a New York Times bestseller and is now available in 45 languages and as a 2011 film adaptation s…