Nora Roberts comes from Irish ancestry. She was born on October 10, 1950 in Silver Spring, Maryland, the youngest of five children. She went to Catholic school and attributes her sense of discipline to the nuns who instilled it in her as a student. She has been married twice and she met her second husband when he came by her house to build bookshelves. She is not a fan of flying but she is a big fan of baseball.

Roberts is a prolific author, known to write weeks on end and even working during vacation and holidays. She usually writes trilogies as opposed to stand alone books. She started writing in the late 1970s and after being rejected by Harlequin publishing company. Roberts eventually was published by Silhouette, where her first novel, Irish Thoroughbred, came out in 1981. Playing the Odds, the opening book of the MacGregor series, was published in 1985. It shot to bestseller status very quickly. She started penning individual titles in 1987, publishing with Bantam. In the early 1990s, she went to Putnam publishing company.

Roberts is considered a master at writing romance. She maintains fast pace, great setting and characters that people really care about. Roberts has had many of her books become movies (most are made-for-tv): Blue Smoke, Northern Lights, High Noon, Magic Moments, Carnal Innocence, and Midnight Bayou to name a few.