Claire Dean is the pseudonym of novelist Christy Yorke, who lives in Boise, Idaho with her husband, two children, a black Lab, and a noisy cockatiel named Pablo. After years of writing adult fiction, Yorke decided to write two young adult novels, one for her daughter and one for her son, and took their names as her pseudonym. GIRLWOOD is the story of a girl who finds her strength and a bit of magic in the woods, and SPIRIT CALLER is the tale of one boy's journey to adulthood, and the spirit guides who help him along the way. Nature, and the forest in particular, has always been a vital part of the author's life, from the time she spent at her father's cabin in Prescott, Arizona, to the home she and her husband built in the woods outside of Boise, to the electricity-less and somewhat haunted Idaho cabin she's been fortunate enough to summer in, and continually renovate. The ghost's name is Mr. Jackson.