From an early age Clarissa Dean knew she wanted to be a writer. Unfortunately, life got in her way. Having to support her family after her father's death in a railroad accident Clarissa was a working woman from the age of fourteen. When Clarissa turned twenty-eight, she was invited by her boss to move from her hometown in the American South to Los Angeles on the west coast of the United States. There she finally was able to pick up her pen again by contributing to screenplays of her then screenwriter-boyfriend. At thirty she wrote her first screenplay which was made into a made-for-television movie. Since then twelve more screenplays have been adapted. While promoting a movie in London, England, Clarissa met her husband who is a French film producer. One day on the set of one of her husband’s movies Clarissa got to talk to an Academy Award winning actress who suggested she should try writing a novel. The result was The Heart Does Not Forget, which is Clarissa’s debut novel. Finally fulfilling her lifelong ambition, Clarissa has just finished her third novel, while the second is being prepared for publication and will be published soon. Her fourth novel is already under way.