Claire Messud was born in the United States in 1966. Her first novel, "When the World was Steady", was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award 1996. Her second novel, "The Last Life", won the Encore Prize for the best second novel of 1999. She lives in upstate New York, and teaches at Amherst.
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/819687.Wendy_Merrill