JANET BEN­TON is a writer edi­tor and teacher. She has a BA from Ober­lin Col­lege and an MFA in Eng­lish from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mass­a­chu­setts Amherst. For twen­ty years she has run an edi­to­r­i­al busi­ness and a writ­ing work­shop in Philadel­phia where she lives with her hus­band and daugh­ter. Lil­li de Jong is her first novel.