{{short description|American novelist}} {{infobox writer | name = Karleen Koen | image = | imagesize = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Karleen Smith | birth_date = | birth_place = New York City, New York | occupation = Author, historian | language = English | education = Bachelor of Arts<ref name=ContemAuthors/> | alma_mater = North Texas State University | period = Seventeenth and eighteenth century England and France | genre = Historical fiction | subject = | movement = | notableworks = ''Through a Glass Darkly'' | spouse = | children = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | website = {{URL|karleenkoen.net}} | portaldisp = }} '''Karleen Koen''' (''née'' '''Smith''') is an American novelist perhaps best known for her 1986 debut historical fiction novel, ''Through a Glass Darkly''.
==Personal life== Karleen Smith grew up near Houston, Texas. In 1970, she majored in English and graduated from North Texas State University.<ref name=ContemAuthors>{{Cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-2698600212.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924170454/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-2698600212.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |title=Koen, Karleen |work=Contemporary Authors |date=January 1, 2007|accessdate=September 7, 2012}}</ref><ref name=PeoplePortrait/> Koen became the first managing editor of ''Houston Home & Garden'' and then its editor. She decided to leave in order to focus on family.<ref name=PeoplePortrait>{{Cite web|url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20095708,00.html |title=Through a Glass Darkly Emerges the Portrait of Karleen Koen, a Successful First-Time Novelist |work=People |first=Harriet |last=Shapiro |date=February 23, 1987 |accessdate=September 7, 2012}}</ref> In 2011 she attended the annual conference of the Historical Novel Society alongside Diana Gabaldon and Margaret George, among others.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2011/jun/11/brain-trust-of-historical-fiction-convenes/ |title=Brain trust of historical fiction convenes |work=Union-Tribune |date=June 11, 2011 |accessdate=September 7, 2012}}</ref>
==Literary career== To help pass the dull hours at home, Koen began writing a historical fiction novel on her favorite time period, the eighteenth-century. The book centered on teenage noblewoman Barbara Alderley and her trials and travails as she navigates English and French society. To gain a publisher for her work, now called ''Through a Glass Darkly'', Koen sent the manuscript to Jean Naggar, whose name she found in ''Writer's Digest''. Naggar encouraged Koen to continue finishing the book; believing it to be "the launching of a major author," Naggar mailed the manuscript to five major publishing companies;<ref name=PeoplePortrait/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/08/28/books/texan-hits-the-jackpot-350000-for-first-novel.html |title=Texan Hits the Jackpot: $350,000 for First Novel |work=The New York Times |first=Herbert |last=Mitgang |date=August 28, 1985 |accessdate=September 7, 2012}}</ref> Random House purchased it for a "whopping" $350,000 in August 1985, which was at the time a record for a new novelist.<ref name=PeoplePortrait/><ref name=ChicagoVogel>{{Cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3787622.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140611070931/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3787622.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 11, 2014 |title=Fame delivers a plot twist // 'Glass Darkly' author now comes face to face with star's reputation |work=Chicago Sun-Times|first=Christine |last=Vogel |date=September 28, 1986 |accessdate=September 7, 2012}}</ref> Koen and her husband used some of this money to purchase a three-bedroom house in Houston.<ref name=PeoplePortrait/>
Koen began work on her second novel soon after ''Through a Glass Darkly'' was purchased for print. She titled it ''Now Face to Face'', and described it as ""a continuation and completion of Barbara's story and it involves [her cousin] Tony and the themes of bonding, family and love – and I don't mean sex."<ref name=ChicagoVogel/>
Her writing influences include Winston Graham, Daphne du Maurier, and Mary Stewart.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://madameguillotine.org.uk/2011/06/28/qa-with-karleen-koen-author-of-before-versailles/ |title=Q&A with Karleen Koen, author of Before Versailles |publisher=Madameguillotine.org |date=June 28, 2012 |accessdate=September 7, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120611133222/http://madameguillotine.org.uk/2011/06/28/qa-with-karleen-koen-author-of-before-versailles/ |archive-date=June 11, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Works== * ''Through a Glass Darkly'' (1986) * ''Now Face to Face'' (1995) * ''Dark Angels'' (2006) * ''Before Versailles'' (2011)
==See also== {{Portal|Novels|Literature}} * List of romantic novelists
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koen, Karleen}} <!--- Categories ---> Category:Living people Category:American women writers Category:Writers of historical fiction set in the early modern period Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Writers from Houston Category:University of North Texas alumni Category:American women historical novelists Category:American historical novelists Category:21st-century American women