author
Mary Ellen Chase
1887–1973
Best known for vivid books rooted in the Maine coast, this American writer and teacher brought New England landscapes and everyday lives to the page with warmth and clarity. She also spent many years as a respected professor, helping shape generations of students.
4 Audiobooks
Mary Christmas
by Mary Ellen Chase
Virginia of Elk Creek Valley
by Mary Ellen Chase
The Girl from the Big Horn Country
by Mary Ellen Chase
The art of narration
by Mary Ellen Chase, Frances Kelley Del Plaine
About the author
Born in Blue Hill, Maine, in 1887, Mary Ellen Chase became known as a novelist, essayist, scholar, and teacher whose writing was deeply connected to the Maine seacoast and the people who lived there. She studied at the University of Maine and later earned a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.
Chase taught English at Smith College for nearly three decades and built a reputation as both a serious academic and a widely read author. Her books include fiction, memoir, biography, and writing about religion and literature, and she published more than 30 works over the course of her career.
Readers often remember her for the strong sense of place in books such as Silas Crockett, Windswept, and Mary Peters. She died in Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1973, but her work remains an inviting window into New England life and thought.