Theresa Lee was born and raised in Korea first coming to the US to attend university. Her career began in her war-ravaged country where she opened the first women's vocational school, entered a convent where she spent twelve years and eventually opening the first convent of that religious order in her homeland. Her love of history and a deep respect for the often-beleaguered culture of her homeland has always kept her strongly connected to her roots.
Theresa lived through every historical event described in The Painted Skirt. Its writing was inspired by the story of an uncle she never met-who was executed the night her hometown of Seoul was invaded by the North Korean Army-and his love affair with her aunt, which ended in tragedy. With most of the details of that haunting chapter of her family's history lost to the passage of time, she chose to fill in the blanks, telling their story as it might have been, even while wishing the whole truth could be fully known.
Theresa currently lives in Deerfield, Illinois, close to her brother and two sisters.
