The woman on the left, known far and wide as "Herself," is the critically-acclaimed author of four novels and the co-author of six others.  So she's not what you'd call "at a loss for words."  Nevertheless, it has fallen to me, her co-conspirator in all things, to pen a biographical note in her behalf---if only to shame her into writing one of her own.

The daughter of Samuel and Elisabeth Johnson, Carolyn made her debut in a shotgun shack in New Iberia, Louisiana...some time ago.

She is, nonetheless, a Jersey girl by virtue of her graduation from Scotch Plains High School (where the students are exhorted to "Buckle down, Blue Raiders, buckle down!").  A Peabody scholar at the now defunct Western College for Women, she is an honors graduate of the University of Wisconsin.  Indeed, it was in Madison, in a philosophy class entitled "Freedom, Fate and Choice," that she met this writer---to whom she was wed in 1966.  (Goodbye Freedom, hello Choice!)

Genoa, Mykonos, Ibiza and Tangiers followed (by freighter, Vespa and VW van).  Then London and Maine. And hard on the heels of these magical places: children, books and dogs.  Here are their names:

Daisy and Matt.

Shooting in the Dark
Blood Relative
The Romeo Flag
The Last Goodbye

Brownie and Taz.

A relevant fact: somewhere in Scandinavia, there is a champion Irish-Setter named "Chesterton's Carolyn Hougan".  This is obviously not a coincidence.  Beyond that, we may not go.