Reader's Digest--Volume 2 1997

5 June 1949

Ken Follett is a British author of thrillers and historical novels. He has sold more then 100 million copies of his works. Four of his books have reached the number 1 ranking on the New York Times best-seller list : *The Key to Rebecca, Lie Down with Lions, Triple* and *World Without End*.

17 July 1943

LaVyrle was born on July 17, 1943 in Browerville, Minnesota, USA, where she grew up. Married her high school sweetheart Dan Spencer, shortly after her graduation, a decision she calls the wisest choice of her life. They had two daughters, Amy and Beth (d. 1990). LaVyrle worked as a teacher's aide at Osseo Junior High School, when in her thirties, she read Kathleen Woodiwiss's novel "The Flame and Flower", which gave her the idea to become a novelist. She decided to try transferring to paper a recurring dream she was having about a story based on her grandmother's lifestyle on a Minnesota farm. Her story became her first manuscript, "The Fulfillment", and she sent it to Kathleen Woodiwiss.…