Lea Wait (1946 - )

Genre: Mystery, Children's Literature

Lea Wait, who lives in Edgecomb, is the author of children's historical novels (for kids ages 8-12), and a new mystery series for adults starring antique print dealer Maggie Summer. She is also an antique prints dealer herself. Wait grew up in suburban New Jersey (summering in Maine), was a drama and English major at Chatham College in Pittsburgh, PA, attended grad school at New York University, studying American civilization, and worked in corporate public relations. In her 20s and single, she adopted four girls from Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong and India (all now grown), and she founded a support group for single adoptive parents; she is still on the board of the National Council for Single Adoptive Parents. Wait's website has more information about her and her books.

Her books for children and young adults are:

• Stopping to Home (2001), set in Wiscasset, Maine in 1806, about 11-year-old Abbie and her younger brother, Seth, who have lost their mother to smallpox and their father to the sea. It is 1806, in the Maine seaport of Wiscasset, and their future is uncertain. The book was named a Notable Children's Book of 2001 by Smithsonian Magazine.
• Seaward Born (2003), a story of slavery -- and the possibility of freedom at sea -- in 1805 Charleston (SC) and Maine
• Wintering Well (2004), about a boy who loses a leg in a farm accident, set in 1820s Wiscasset Maine
• Finest Kind (2005), set in 1830s Wiscasset, depicting a Boston family's assimilation into small town Maine life.

Wait's website provides teachers' guides and Q&A on her children's books.

Her mystery series books -- featuring Maggie Summer, professor of history at Somerset County Community College and owner of Shadows Antiques, an antique prints shop -- are:

• Shadows at the Fair: An Antique Print Mystery (June 2002), the first in a series that combines antique prints and unexplained homicides, set at the Rensselaer Country Spring Antiques Fair. Harriet Klausner wrote a review of Shadows at the Fair.
• Shadows on the Coast of Maine: An Antique Print Mystery (2003)
• Shadows on the Ivy (2004), involving parenting, set on a college campus in New Jersey.
• Shadows at the Spring Show: An Antique Print Mystery (2005), involving adoption, set in New Jersey.

She's also published a non-fiction book about writing, co-written with Lesley Bolton, titled The Only Writing Series You'll Ever Need: Writing Children's Books (2007).


Last Update: 05/31/2007

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