Jen­nifer Cody Epstein is the author of the inter­na­tion­al best­seller The Painter from Shang­hai and The Gods of Heav­en­ly Pun­ish­ment and win­ner of the 2013 Asian Pacif­ic Asso­ci­a­tion of Librar­i­ans Hon­or award for out­stand­ing fic­tion. She has writ­ten for The Wall Street Jour­nal, Vogue, Self, Made­moi­selle, and many oth­ers. She has an MFA in fic­tion from Colum­bia Uni­ver­si­ty and an MA in inter­na­tion­al affairs from the Johns Hop­kins School of Advanced Inter­na­tion­al Stud­ies. She lives in Brook­lyn with her hus­band and two daughters.