Local-ish Authors: Historical Fiction / Literary Fiction

What I will tell you here is that, I live in Massachusetts just west of Boston but I’ll always identify myself as a California girl because my parents are native Californians and live there still, and I spent the formative years of sixth grade through college in the state.  But the truth is, I’ve actually lived more of my life on the East Coast, which is still partly my parents’ fault for living the first eight years of my life in Dover, MA. I also lived for six years in Brooklyn, NY, where I ate really well, and cheaply, and shopped at awesome thrift shops (sigh; I still miss it sometimes). During those New York years, I also got my MFA at Columbia, and my first teaching gig as a grad student instructor in the Undergraduate Writing Program there.  I taught writing for eight years, starting as a grad student, then as a lecturer at Fairleigh Dickinson University in NJ, before moving to MA and having a baby and changing my life yet again.

These days, I write full time and hang with my daughter Elena.  Together, we love taking advantage of everything the Boston area has to offer–trips to the Museum of Fine Arts, apple picking, traipsing around the Boston Common, and soaking up the history in Concord and Sturbridge Village.  I also love to cook and eat, so you’ll likely see a sprinkling of delicious dishes in my Instagram feed!

Jane Healey is the author of The Beantown Girls, a Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestseller, The Secret Stealers, which was an Amazon First Reads Editor’s Pick and a Historical Novel Society’s Editors’ Choice, and her debut, The Saturday Evening Girls Club. Goodnight from Paris is her newly released novel from Lake Union Publishing. Jane is also the host of Historical Happy Hour, a webinar and podcast featuring interviews with premier historical fiction authors and their latest novels. She lives outside of Boston with her husband, two daughters, cats and a dog.

Jane Healey has given presentations about the history behind her novels to hundreds of libraries, book clubs and organizations around the country, including through the Jewish Book Council Network and the American Red Cross.

Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts. His family, the Hathornes, had lived in Salem since the seventeenth century. A descendent of the Puritan judges William Hathorne and John Hathorne, a judge who oversaw the Salem Witch Trials, Hawthorne chose to add the “w” to his name when he was in his early twenties. Hawthorne grew up with his mother and uncles in Salem and Raymond, Maine. His father, a ship’s captain, died of yellow fever in 1808. Many of Hawthorne’s childhood poems and stories were concerned with sailing and the sea. Hawthorne suffered temporary paralysis during his youth and studied literature at home with the lexicographer Joseph Emerson Worcester. Hawthorne then attended Bowdoin College from 1821 to 1825, where he wrote his early poems and a novel. He was classmates with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and they developed a friendship later in life. Hawthorne moved back to Salem after graduation.

By 1842 Hawthorne’s writing provided enough income for him to marry Sophia, and they settled for three years in Concord, Massachusetts. Hawthorne’s neighbors were Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and the philosopher and educator Bronson Alcott, making the village the leading center of Transcendentalism.

Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, in Plymouth, New Hampshire, while on a mountain tour with Pierce. Hawthorne is buried at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord. 

Susan is the author of 11 novels including her 2010 novel, ONE GOOD DOG, which enjoyed six weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and THE DOG WHO DANCED which received the coveted Maxwell Medal for Fiction from the Dog Writer’s Association of America. Her novel, THE DOG I LOVED, was released in November 2019.  Susan’s first published novel, BEAUTY (1996), was made into a CBS Sunday Night Movie starring Jamey Sheridan and Janine Turner and can still be seen occasionally on the Lifetime network.  A MAN OF HIS OWN (2013) , was named as the One Book One Independence 2020 selection by the Independence Public Library in Iowa.

She lives on Martha’s Vineyard with her husband, a retired school teacher, and their spoiled Cavalier King Charles spaniel, Cora.  She has two grown daughters and three grandchildren and four step-grandchildren.  Susan is also a horse lover with a Quarter horse mare, Maggie Rose.

Heidi writes women's fiction, combining her love of history and literature to write both split time stories and contemporary fiction. Her debut novel, Freedom's Ring, was a Carol Award winner and a Christy Award finalist, a Romantic Times Top Pick and a Booklist Top Ten Romance Debut. Heidi loves exploring places that whisper of historical secrets, especially with her family. She loves running, hiking, baking, and dates with her husband. Her second Carol Award-winning novel, The Orchard House, is inspired by the lesser-known events in Louisa May Alcott's life. Heidi makes her home in Massachusetts with her husband and two sons.

Famed author Louisa May Alcott created colorful relatable characters in 19^th century novels. Her work introduced readers to educated strong female heroines. As a result, her writing style greatly impacted American literature.

Her father, Bronson Alcott, was a popular educator who believed that children should enjoy learning. Therefore, at an early age, Alcott took to reading and writing. While most of her schooling came from her parents she also studied under famed philosopher Henry David Thoreau and popular authors Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathanial Hawthorne. Much like her novel Little Women, Alcott was one of four daughters and she remained close with her sisters throughout her life. Many times, Alcott’s family suffered from financial woes, forcing her to attend school irregularly. She took many jobs to help alleviate financial struggles, working as teacher and washing laundry. She turned to writing for both emotional and financial support.

Alcott never married nor had any children, however, when her sister died, she adopted her niece. Afterwards she moved to Boston, Massachusetts and continued publishing more works that followed the characters from Little Women. Alcott suffered from bouts of illness throughout her life. She attributed her poor health to mercury poisoning which she believed she contracted while she worked as a nurse during the Civil War. In 1888, she died at the age of 56 in Boston, Massachusetts. Today, readers continue to enjoy Alcott’s writings and her novels still appear on bestseller list throughout the world.

G.R. Macallister is the author of the Five Queendoms series, beginning with Scorpica, which Publishers Weekly called “a must-read for fans of Game of Thrones and Priory of the Orange Tree.” She also writes bestselling historical fiction under the name Greer Macallister. Her novels have been named Indie Next, LibraryReads, and Amazon Best Book of the Month picks and optioned for film and television. A regular contributor to Writer Unboxed and the Chicago Review of Books, she lives with her family in Boston.

Lynne Reeves Griffin is a nationally recognized expert on relationships and family life. Writing as Lynne Reeves, her novel of domestic suspense, The Dangers of an Ordinary Night was described by The New York Times as “a sensitive examination of a dysfunctional family and a full-of-secrets community that claims to be seeking the truth.” Her next novel, Dark Rivers to Cross will be published November 8, 2022.

Lynne is also the author of the acclaimed novels, Girl Sent Away (SixOneSeven Books, 2015),  Sea Escape (Simon & Schuster, 2010), and  Life Without Summer (St. Martin’s Press, 2009). She’s written the nonfiction guides Let’s Talk About It: Adolescent Mental Health (SixOneSeven Books, 2015) and Negotiation Generation: Take Back Your Parental Authority Without Punishment (Penguin, 2007).

She lives outside Boston, Massachusetts with her family.