Lauded a master storyteller, “the queen of psychological twists,” and “one of the most gifted novelists writing today,” bestselling author Tosca Lee has enjoyed a storied career.
Celebrated for her immersive world building and realistic character creation, she’s tackled many a historical figure, expertly bringing each to life in her signature addictive fashion. The Creation story through the eyes of the first woman with “Havah: The Story of Eve.” Judas’ perspective of the life and times of Jesus through “Iscariot.” And “The Legend of Sheba,” chronicling the Queen of Sheba’s rise to power and explosive encounter with King Solomon.
Lee is known for her dedication to meticulous research (often spanning years), and is admittedly obsessive about getting the details just right. Her fans seem to approve as her 12 novels have merited multiple awards, rave reviews, and placements on reputable bestseller lists for The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Goodreads.
Her more recent works, “The Progeny” and sequel “Firstborn,” a grand, globetrotting adventure based on legends of Elizabeth Báthory, “the most notorious female serial killer of all time,” and apocalyptic, dystopian thrillers “The Line Between” and sequel “A Single Light,” garnered Hollywood attention, landing her development deals for television — most notably, one with American actor and filmmaker Ed Burns’ Marlboro Road Gang Productions.
Given the themes and characters she’s chosen to write about, Lee is no stranger to a challenge, nor tackling hard topics. Though it didn’t make the five years spent researching and writing her most recent novel, a riveting World War II account of three prisoners of war titled “The Long March Home: A World War II Novel of the Pacific,” any easier.
Co-authored with New York Times bestselling author Marcus Brotherton, “The Long March Home,” tells the coming-of-age tale of three friends as they journey to the Philippines as young American soldiers, experience war, and fight to survive the largest surrender of American troops in history, consequently stranding them as prisoners of war and forcing them to endure the Bataan Death March — now understood to be one of the worst atrocities known in modern warfare.
Said Lee, “I read every single survivor account I could get my hands on. Of course, I read books and watched documentaries, but the survivor accounts were the most harrowing and inspiring. The most surprising thing from my research is that anybody could survive any of this stuff. Those who survived the war were cut to half rations and then quarter rations. They had malaria and dysentery. And then to survive the surrender, which was the largest American surrender in history, and the 60-mile Bataan Death March in six days where you're not allowed to stop for food or water, to use the bathroom or relieve yourself, to help anybody, or else there would be deadly consequences. And then, if you survive that, it's just the beginning of almost four years of POW life. The fact that anybody survived is a testament to the power of faith, the power of brotherhood, the power of hope, and the power of friendship, because those who survived often did so with the help of friends. For many people, that made the difference whether they made it or not.”
“The Long March Home” was awarded an International Book Award for Historical Fiction, was a finalist for a Hemingway Award, and most recently, was selected as the winning title for 2025 One Book One Nebraska. The accolade felt especially significant to Lee as she is not only a bestselling, world-crafting phenom, but also a Nebraska native, penning much of her work from a Fremont farm where she happily resides with her husband, aptly known to fans as “Farmer Bryan,” her children, and sweet 160-pound pooch, Timber (now officially Insta-famous after her many social media posts with him).
“I’m really proud to be a Nebraska author. I have very deep Nebraska ties. My mother's a native Nebraskan. My great-great-great grandma came to Nebraska as a woman homesteader — a widow with four children! My dad taught at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln for 40 years, and I grew up in Lincoln and married a Nebraska farmer,” explained Lee. “Nebraska has such a rich literary tradition — a fact many people don’t know. Our state capital has busts of well-known writers. It’s a big part of our history and our heritage.”
In honor of her home state, Lee often includes Nebraska-themed Easter eggs in her novels. In “The Long March Home,” the main characters happen across a Nebraska soldier named Buggy — an ode to the University of Nebraska’s original team name, the Bugeaters, before being renamed the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the early 1900s.
Sponsored by Nebraska Center for the Book, Humanities Nebraska, and Nebraska Library Commission, One Book One Nebraska is a reading program missioned with encouraging Nebraskans to read and discuss literature. Books written by Nebraska authors or having a Nebraska theme or setting are nominated, one book is selected, and libraries across Nebraska then plan events, discussions, and activities around it. Lee was excited to hear the “The Long March Home” was selected as it’s so rich with stories and themes worth sharing, considering, and discussing.
“My co-author Marcus and I are really grateful to have this book chosen as the 2025 One Book One Nebraska because our goal all along has been to tell this part of World War II history that is so often underrepresented. We hear so much about what happened in the European theater, but often not a lot about what happened in the Pacific. So our goal has been to shine a light on the heroes of the Pacific,” said Lee. “Every single thing that happened to the three main characters in this book happened to somebody. So these characters are fictional, but it's all inspired by true stories and everything that happens to them is real.”
Released May 2023, the novel has deeply resonated with readers. As many World War II veterans refused or simply couldn’t speak of their traumas from war, many children and grandchildren have praised the novel for helping them better understand what their family member went through, while others have shared newfound gratitude for their freedom after reading about the sacrifices made by World War II soldiers.
“I feel like my most important job as a novelist is to transport people and help them escape, even if they're escaping into a situation where there's tough stuff going on. People need escapes. Whether they're going through something tough or just need the mental break, people need to leave this world sometimes,” shared Lee. “The job of a writer is to observe and translate things in ways that help people experience it and then make sense of experiences of their own. So, it was really important for Marcus and I to bring this history alive in an immersive, real way. This book seats readers right in the main characters’ shoes — in the forefront of their experiences — so history becomes more real.”
For information on Lee’s novels, appearances, or events, visit toscalee.com. Readers can also find fun extras on her website, like discussion guides and the cut epilogue for “The Long March Home.”
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I’m really proud to be a Nebraska author. Nebraska has such a rich literary tradition. It’s a big part of our history and our heritage.
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Headline: Marcus Brotherton
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“The Long March Home" co-author Marcus Brotherton is a New York Times bestselling author and co-author dedicated to writing books that inspire heroics, promote empathy, and encourage noble living. His most recent nonfiction book, “A Bright and Blinding Sun,” detailed World War II in the Pacific and was acclaimed as “storytelling at its best” by Heather Morris, internationally bestselling author of “The Tattooist of Auschwitz.” For more on Brotherton, visit marcusbrotherton.com.