Susan Branch was born in Southern California but calls her 1849 home on the Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard her "heart magnet" because she was drawn to New England from childhood and loved it before she laid eyes on it. She finally moved there in her early 30's, no longer "able to live without four seasons and white picket fences as everyday architecture." She is the oldest of eight children and inspired by "almost everything." Her hand-lettered and watercolored Heart of the Home series of books are a reflection of the things she loves to celebrate, the home-arts of cooking, gardening, homemaking, family, best friends, entertaining, and the little things that make life sweet. Her newest book, A FINE ROMANCE ~ Falling in Love with the English Countryside, is a diary of her two-month jaunt through the back roads of England in search of her literary and artistic roots. It's filled with the little details, both in words and pictures, that readers have grown to love in Susan's books.Susan has a large and loyal following on her blog at www.susanbranch.com and her personal newsletter ("Willard," named for her grandfather, "another story"), filled with photos, recipes and art, is emailed to approximately 50,000 subscribers monthly.