Born on the East coast of Norwegian parentage, Joan en-joyed a bi-cultural childhood and youth where great emphasis was placed on religion, schooling and sports. Inexorably drawn to her cultural heritage, she discovered that the Viking era presented the opportunity to research a way of life often short-changed in modern scholarship. Joan married and lived for six years in the Superior National Forest area of Minnesota. Then the growing family re-located to Southern California. With four children, she pursued her interests in writing, mu-sic, horses and blue water sailing. With her husband, she has traveled to most of the locales lived in by the characters in her novel.