Danielle-Fernande Dominique Schulein-Steel was born in New York in 1947, the only child of John Schulein Steel, a descendant of the Lowenbrau beer dynasty and Norma Da Camara Stone Reis, the daughter of a Portuguese diplomat. 'I had a very adult childhood, attending formal social functions and dinner parties with my parents', she recalls. 'So I became a sort of fly-on-the-wall observer at an early age. Looking back on it now, it's probably what made me a writer.'

After Parsons School of Design and New York University, she became an advertising copywriter, then worked for a PR agency in San Francisco. One of her clients was the editor of American Home magazine. Impressed by her sharply written press releases, he encouraged her to write and the rest is, as they say, history!

She is now one of the world's most popular authors. Each of her books becomes an international bestseller and they have sold a phenomenal 420 million copies. She is also the author of His Bright Light, a memoir of her son Nick Traina.