Karleen Koen (née Smith) is an American novelist perhaps best known for her 1986 debut historical fiction novel, Through a Glass Darkly.
[3] 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.
"[5] Her writing influences include Winston Graham, Daphne du Maurier, and Mary Stewart.