Born in the Philippines, Doreen Gandy Wiley spent WWII in Manila under the Japanese Occupation. Harassed and bereft, she escaped death by a heartbeat during liberation. After the war she was repatriated to the United States where she earned a B.A. from San Jose State University and an M.A. from Stanford. A longtime Oregon resident, she raised a family, taught English in the schools, and authored four poetry collections. In 1995 Strawberry Hill Press published her Fires of Survival, which won the National League of American Pen Women 1996 award for best historical novel. Doreen and husband Joe live in Oregon.