Biography
Named as one of Time magazine’s most influential people in 2005, Dan Brown is the man behind the phenomenally popular The Da Vinci Code, which is one of the bestselling - if controversial - books of all time. Born into an academic family in 1964, Brown was raised on the campus of Phillips Exeter Academy, where his father was a teacher of mathematics. Fascinated by secrets, puzzles, anagrams, codes and ciphers from a young age, his passion was encouraged by his parents, who would often devise treasure hunts from Brown to decipher.
After graduating Amherst College in 1986, Brown embarked on a career in music, supplementing his modest income with teaching jobs, including at his father’s old school. It was while on holiday in Tahiti that he was inspired to write his own thriller novel: Brown quit his teaching job in 1996, and Digital Fortress was published in 1998. Angels & Demons (the first to feature Robert Langdon) and Deception Point followed in 2000, 2001; all three books enjoyed limited success until the publication of The Da Vinci Code in 2003.
An immediate bestseller, it went straight to the top of the New York Times bestseller list; the following year, all four of Brown’s books were in the bestsellers charts. In 2005, he was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People Of The Year.
Selling over 80 million copies and adapted into a film starring Tom Hanks, The Da Vinci Code controversially explores the possibility of Jesus and Mary Magdalene having a child together. A combination of art history, cryptograms, conspiracy theories and breathtaking action, The Da Vinci Code was a bestseller around the world.
Intellectually challenging yet accessible, and combining fact and fiction to spark curiosity, the novels of Dan Brown are modern-day treasure hunts, offering every reader the chance to crack the clues, solve the puzzle and save the day.
