Mary Ellen Taylor

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About Mary Ellen Taylor
A southerner by birth, Mary Ellen Taylor’s love of her home state, Virginia, and its past is evident in her contemporary women's fiction, from her first The Union Street Bakery, set in Alexandria, to her latest, Spring House, which takes place on the state’s Eastern Shore. In Spring Cottage and prior novels, Mary Ellen’s protagonists search for their place in the world. They explore issues of family, home and belonging, and their stories entwine with those of the locales in which they unfold, encompassing mysteries past and present.
Richmond born, Mary Ellen has lived there most of her life. She grew up in a family that appreciates stories of all kinds, from a well-told anecdote to a good yarn or a tall tale. Perhaps it was inevitable that she would embrace her storytelling heritage, walk away from her marketing job and challenge herself to become a published author.
"I realized early on the tremendous power stories have to inspire laughter, love, sorrow and even fear. It didn't matter if they were found in the pages of a book, spoken in hushed tones around a campfire, or shared at an old-fashioned family reunion. Stories create connections, and I knew that was what I wanted to do," says Mary Ellen.
Alongside writing, cooking and baking are important creative outlets for Mary Ellen, who's been known to name recipes in honor of her characters. Just a few years ago, she earned her Baking and Pastry Arts Certificate at the University of Richmond's Culinary Arts Program. "In some ways, I liken baking to my efforts as a writer. You need to learn the basic tools of the trade before you can push the limits and create a distinctive sweet dessert or savory novel.”
Her two passions —writing and baking—merged for the first time in The Union Street Bakery. Since then, she's shared favorite recipes, connected to her books Sweet Expectations, At the Corner of King Street, The View from Prince Street, Winter Cottage and Spring House.
Mary Ellen is also known nationally as New York Times and USA Today bestselling suspense novelist Mary Burton. Together, they have published thirty-eight novels, with Mary Burton’s latest, I See You, debuting October 2019.
When not traveling or holed up writing, Mary Ellen spends time with her husband enjoying their empty nest and spoiling their miniature dachshunds, Buddy, Bella and Tiki.
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Books By Mary Ellen Taylor
From The Brighter the Light author Mary Ellen Taylor comes an uplifting tale of hope and love between a mother and daughter as they learn that life is a masterpiece in the making.
When artist Dani Manchester learns she’s slowly losing her vision, she becomes unmoored. Her ex-husband died only months before, leaving Dani and her preteen daughter grief stricken. Suddenly, the life Dani built for her family on the Outer Banks feels like a painful reminder of all they’ve lost.
On a whim, Dani sells her waterfront home and buys an old farm inland near the Virginia state line. But Dani’s daughter recoils at the sudden, drastic change. The Outer Banks’ sun-swept beaches, pink dawns, and savage storms are all she’s ever known.
But Dani is resolute, and the pair move to Virginia to embark on a challenging renovation. That summer, their efforts to turn a run-down silo into an art studio bring forth new friends, new loves, and new challenges.
As mother and daughter navigate the fiercest storm of their lives, they learn that instead of waiting for the skies to clear, they can withstand the wind and rain, so long as they do it together.
From the bestselling author of Honeysuckle Season comes an evocative dual-timeline novel detailing one woman’s journey to discover the hidden stories of her family’s seaside resort.
When a shipwreck surfaces, old secrets are sure to follow.
Or so goes the lore in Ivy Neale’s hometown of Nags Head, North Carolina. When Ivy inherits her family’s beachfront cottage upon her grandmother’s death, she knows returning to Nags Head means facing the best friend and the boyfriend who betrayed her years ago.
But then a winter gale uncovers the shipwreck of local legend—and Ivy soon begins to stumble across more skeletons in the closet than just her own. Amid the cottage’s clutter are clues from her grandmother’s past at the enchanting seaside resort her family once owned. One fateful summer in 1950, the arrival of a dazzling singer shook the staff and guests alike—and not everyone made it to fall.
As Ivy contends with broken relationships and a burgeoning romance in the present, the past threatens to sweep her away. But as she uncovers the strength of her grandmother and the women who came before her, she realizes she is like the legendary shipwreck: the sands may shift around her, but she has found her home here by the sea.
And then she gets some unexpected news. In one moment, Daisy's calm existence turns into chaos. Now she's struggling to keep it together, especially with renovations at the bakery spiraling out of control. But when a box of recipes and mementos is found hidden behind a wall in the bakery, Daisy suddenly has something to cling to-a mystery that echoes her own troubles and gives her the opportunity to figure out what she really wants out of life.
“When Daisy McCrae’s already semi-scrambled life abruptly turns even more upside down, it leads to deeper soul-searching , exploration of family ties, and a quest for the ultimate meaning of her purpose and direction . . . with Daisy’s narration alternating with her sister Rachel’s, the story unfurls at a slow yet steady pace, nicely layering characters, subplots, and backstory." Booklist
An Amazon Charts bestseller.
A gripping novel about family secrets…and coming home for the first time.
Still grieving the loss of her wandering, free-spirited mother, Lucy Kincaid leaves Nashville for the faded town of Cape Hudson, Virginia. She goes to see the house she’s inherited—one she never knew existed, bequeathed to her by a woman she’s never even met. At the heart of this mystery is the hope that maybe—just maybe—this “Winter Cottage” will answer the endless questions about her mother’s past…including the identity of her birth father.
Rather than the quaint Virginian bungalow Lucy expected, Winter Cottage is a grand old estate of many shadows—big enough to hold a century of secrets, passions, and betrayals. It also comes with a handsome and enigmatic stranger, a man next in line to claim Lucy’s inheritance.
Now, as Lucy sifts through the past, uncovering the legacy of secrets that Winter Cottage holds, she’ll come to discover as much about her family history as she does about herself. In searching, she could finally find the one thing she’s never really had: a home.
Making things worse is the constant feeling of not being a "real" McCrae, since she was adopted as a child and has a less-than-perfect relationship with her two sisters. Then a long-standing elderly customer passes away, and for some reason she bequeaths to Daisy a journal dating back to the 1850s, written by an enslaved girl named Susie.
As Daisy reads, she learns more about her family - and her own heritage - than she had ever imagined. Haunted by dreams of the young Susie, she is compelled to look further into the past of the town and her family.
“A wonderful story about sisters, family, and the things that matter most. I loved this beautifully written journey of self-discovery.” Wendy Wax, USA Today bestselling author
From the bestselling author of Honeysuckle Season comes a sweeping saga that interweaves the past and present in an epic tapestry of love, war, and loss.
As a hospice nurse, Zara Mitchell has already seen more death than most people will experience in a lifetime. So when her older sister asks her to help care for their ailing grandmother, Zara agrees—despite strained family relationships.
Though pale and tired, Nonna has lost none of her sharp mind. She’s fixated on finding something long forgotten, and she immediately puts Zara to work cleaning out the attic. Unexpectedly, amid the tedium of sifting through knickknacks and heirlooms, Zara also reconnects with a man she’s attracted to but whose complicated past makes romance seem impossible.
But then Zara finds what Nonna was looking for: a wooden chest, an emerald broach, a leather-bound journal. As she immerses herself in stories of heroism and loss set against the backdrop of war-torn Italy in 1943, Zara finds answers to questions she didn’t know she had. And they change everything she thinks she knows about love, regret, and seizing the day.
The lives of two women, generations apart, converge in this enthralling novel of love, mystery, memories, and secrets.
Pregnant and still grieving the death of her fiancé historian Megan Buchanan is forging ahead on a dream project: to restore to its original glory the landmark hunting lodge her own great-great-grandfather built on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. With the help of her fiancé’s caring best friend, it’s sure to draw much-needed tourist revenue to Cape Hudson, a town rich in southern history.
However, it’s Spring House, the caretaker’s cottage on the grounds, that holds the most intriguing history for Megan. In a cache of old letters, she’s drawn into the captivating life of a young woman who embarked on her own dream adventure a century ago. With each one, Megan is swept away into her enthralling world—and all its secrets. But Megan has secrets too.
Now, as one woman’s past unfolds in each revealing letter, Megan will discover more about herself and about the emotional tides of family that can be weathered with those you love and trust the most.
An Amazon Charts bestseller.
From bestselling author Mary Ellen Taylor comes a story about profound loss, hard truths, and an overgrown greenhouse full of old secrets.
Adrift in the wake of her father’s death, a failed marriage, and multiple miscarriages, Libby McKenzie feels truly alone. Though her new life as a wedding photographer provides a semblance of purpose, it’s also a distraction from her profound pain.
When asked to photograph a wedding at the historic Woodmont estate, Libby meets the owner, Elaine Grant. Hoping to open Woodmont to the public, Elaine has employed young widower Colton Reese to help restore the grounds and asks Libby to photograph the process. Libby is immediately drawn to the old greenhouse shrouded in honeysuckle vines.
As Libby forms relationships and explores the overgrown—yet hauntingly beautiful—Woodmont estate, she finds the emotional courage to sort through her father’s office. There she discovers a letter that changes everything she knows about her parents, herself, and the estate. Beneath the vines of the old greenhouse lie generations of secrets, and it’s up to Libby to tend to the fruits born of long-buried seeds.
AT THE CORNER OF KING STREET
After a childhood filled with conflict and loss, Addie Morgan is determined to live a very different kind of life, she deserves stability and happiness, doesn’t she? Addie finds just what she’s looking for when she gets a job at a vineyard in the country. And maybe she’s found more than peace and contentment with the vineyard owner, Scott.
But Addie’s ties to the past intrude when she gets a call telling her that her sister has just given birth and she is wanted at home to help the family she tried so hard to forget. Now, as she returns home, she faces an impossible choice – should she abandon the picture-perfect future she planned or to return to the past.
“Taylor serves up a great mix of vivid setting, history, drama and everyday life” – The Herald Sun
“A charming and engaging story about the nature of family and the meaning of love” – Seattle PI.com
“You will not be able to put this book down until you’ve turned the very last page” – Fresh Fiction
Ein bewegender Roman über Mutter und Tochter und die Kraft, sich gemeinsam gegen die Stürme des Lebens zu stemmen
Nach dem Regen wird der Himmel wieder blau sein.
Blau. Die Farbe des Wassers und des Himmels ist für Dani immer eine Palette aus Schattierungen und Zwischentönen gewesen. Licht und Klarheit. Doch ihre Welt als Künstlerin verschwindet allmählich, denn durch eine Krankheit wird sie ihr Augenlicht verlieren. So wie ihre Tochter Bella vor vier Monaten ihren Vater verloren hat. Ein Umzug und eine neue Galerie ermöglichen genau den Neuanfang, der ihnen beiden guttun wird. Auch wenn sie viel Ungesagtes mit sich nehmen, setzt Dani alles daran, ihrer Tochter Mut zu machen, dass Bella eines Tages wieder voller Hoffnung in einen blauen Himmel schauen kann.
Ein traditionsreiches Resort am Meer, ein Schiffswrack und ein altes Familiengeheimnis – der neue bewegende Roman von #1-Kindle-Bestsellerautorin Mary Ellen Taylor.
Sie hatte immer geglaubt, ihre Großmutter zu kennen, aber das war wohl nur ein Teil der Wahrheit.
Winter 2022: Nach dem Tod ihrer Großmutter Ruth kehrt Ivy in ihren Heimatort an der Küste von North Carolina zurück, um das Strandhaus mit seinen Erinnerungsstücken aus dem alten Seaside Resort ihrer Familie zu räumen. Die winterlichen Stürme heben ein Schiffswrack, das zuletzt 1950 zu sehen war – und mit ihm kommen die gut gehüteten Geheimnisse eines längst vergangenen Sommers ans Licht, die mehr mit Ivy und ihren Freunden zu tun haben, als sie es sich vorstellen kann.
Sommer 1950: Die ersten Gäste treffen im Seaside Resort ihrer Familie ein. Ruth ist fasziniert von Carlotta, der glamourösen Sängerin, die ihre Adoptivmutter engagiert hat. Heimlich hofft sie, dass Carlotta ihre leibliche Mutter ist, die sie in einer Sturmnacht geboren und dann im Resort zurückgelassen hat. Doch dann nimmt der Sommer eine dramatische Wendung.
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