Kate Quinn

Kate Quinn is an American writer known for her works of historical fiction.

Early life and education Quinn was born and raised in Long Beach, California. She graduated from Boston University with a BA (2004) and a master's degree (2006) in classical voice.

Writing Quinn's novels often focus on women's underrepresented roles in history.

Her works have been set in several historical eras, including five novels that take place in the Roman Empire, two books about the House of Borgia in the Italian Renaissance, and a series of novels set in the 1940s and 1950s during and after the Second World War.

She has also contributed to a series of historical novels that were collaboratively written with 5-6 other authors, in which each author writes a separate chapter presenting a different character's voice, which together make up a single overlapping story. The first of these, A Day of Fire: A Novel of Pompeii is in development for a limited series from Amazon Studios.

Reception Quinn's 2017 historical fiction novel, The Alice Network, was a New York Times and USA Today bestseller, and an NPR "Books We Loved" selection. Its 2019 follow-up, and Kirkus Reviews, and was also a New York Times bestseller. Her novels The Rose Code and The Diamond Eye were also New York Times bestsellers. In 2024, both The Phoenix Crown and The Briar Club made the NPR "Books We Loved" list. Booklist'''s starred review noted that The Briar Club is a "compulsively readable" book that would be well received by "those who love woman-led historical fiction with rich, appealing characters".