Carey was born in Highland Park, Illinois, and attended Lake Forest College, both in the northern suburbs of Chicago.

Fictional versions of Greece, Great Britain, Italy, Germany, and Spain also figure prominently in the series.

Elua was born when the blood of Yeshua ben Yosef, the son of the one God, mingled with the tears of the Magdelene and carried in the womb of Mother Earth.

The first trilogy, Kushiel's Legacy, begins with the story of Phèdre nò Delaunay, a courtesan's flawed and unwanted daughter who is sold into indentured servitude.

After a terrible accident and the revelation that her father is a priest of Naamah, Moirin sets sail for Terre d'Ange in search of a destiny her bear-goddess has foretold.

It is a story in the vein of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, but told as a tragedy from the point of view of the "dark" side.

Through a Facebook contest, Carey offered fans the chance to choose a new name for the sequel to Santa Olivia, as her publishers were not happy with the working title.

It's a retelling of William Shakespeare's The Tempest, about Prospero's daughter Miranda and her friendship with the strange, feral boy Caliban.