Ellie grew up in the citrus groves of Southern California, has lived in Pennsylvania and Minnesota, and now resides in rural western Illinois where she spins yarn, weaves, gardens, watches birds, and fishes. That is, she wishes she could do more of those things when she's not teaching Old Testament at St. Ambrose University and Monmouth College and copyediting. Ellie has visited Israel/Palestine many times and met her husband, Bob Haak, in Jerusalem. She is author of The Jezebel Letters .