A graduate of University of Wisconsin-Madison in physical therapy, Carole Wagener worked for fifty years in her field and began writing fulltime when she retired in 2018. Her short stories and poetry been published in several anthologies, including Shifting Sands and Turning Tides.. In 2023, she received the Jack London Award by the California Writers Club. Her co-author husband, William, a 50% disabled Vietnam veteran, produces two local TV shows on public access television. in the central coast of California. The couple has been married fifty-five years. The Hardest Year: A Love Story in Letters During the Vietnam War, published in 2023, was an International Book Award Finalist in Military History.