A British expat who first made a splash chronicling her life as a single Manhattanite, Zoë Heller is best-known for writing 2003's What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal, which was turned into a film in 2006.

Born and raised in London, Heller became notorious in '90s Britain for her regular Sunday Times confessional column, in which she offered a no-holds-barred account of her life as a single girl in New York City. She has since worked as a feature writer for The Independent and as a writer for The Daily Telegraph, winning the 2002 British Press Award for Columnist of the Year for her work with the latter.

Her first novel, Everything You Know (2000), was widely panned by the London press and received mixed reviews elsewhere – though the New York Times' Michiko Kakutani called it "a stylish and spirited debut". Heller had much more success with 2003's Notes on a Scandal, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The book, narrated by spinster history teacher Barbara Covett, tells the story of the affair Covett's coworker Sheba Hart begins with one of her students. The 2006 adaptation starred Cate Blanchett (Sheba Hart) and Judi Dench (Barbara Covett), both of whom were nominated for Academy Awards that year. Her most recent novel, The Believers (2008), was shortlisted for the 2010 international IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. She has been compared to literary legends (and fellow Brits) Martin Amis and Ian McEwan.

Heller's father is legendary screenwriter Lukas Heller, who penned Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? and The Dirty Dozen. She is married to the screenwriter Larry Konner, who has written both 2001's Planet of the Apes remake and Mona Lisa Smile, among other better-received feature films and television shows. Heller and her family split their time between New York and the Bahamas. [Image via AP]