As a young wife and mother she took several freelance writing jobs, and wrote longer stories to amuse herself. Although Garwood enjoyed her writing, she was not intending to pursue a career as an author. She married young and had three children: Gerry, Bryan, and Elizabeth. The result was a children's book, A Girl Named Summer, and her first historical novel, Gentle Warrior. A professor, impressed by the quality of her essays, convinced Garwood to write. While studying to be an R.N., Garwood took a Russian history course and became intrigued by history, choosing to pursue a double major in history and nursing. This teacher had such an impact on Garwood's life that she named her daughter Elizabeth. A math teacher, Sister Elizabeth, devoted the entire summer that year to teaching Garwood how to read, and how to enjoy the stories she was reading. She was eleven before her mother realized Garwood was unable to read.

After having a tonsillectomy at age six, because she missed so much school, she did not learn to read as the other children her age did. She has five sisters: Sharon, Kathleen, Marilyn, Mary Colette 'Cookie', and Joanne, and one brother: Tom. Julie Garwood was raised in Kansas City, Missouri, the sixth of seven children in a large Irish family.

Garwood's novel For the Roses was adapted for the television feature Rose Hill. She has also written a novel for young adults called A Girl Named Summer. Over thirty-five million copies of her books are in print, and she has had at least 24 New York Times Bestsellers. Julie Garwood (born 1944 in Kansas City, Missouri) is an American writer of over twenty-seven romance novels in both the historical and suspense subgenres.

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