Lea Wait

Maine author Lea Wait admits that she was born in Boston and grew up in both New Jersey and Maine. She did her undergraduate work at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, then her graduate degrees at New York University while she was living in Greenwich Village (an author's dream, and full of histories and mysteries) and working in the corporate world. She adopted 4 older Asian girls as a single parent, and is now the grandmother of 7 and the wife of Bob Thomas, a Maine artist who grew up in Lebanon. She writes historical novels for children as well as adult mysteries, and loves to row her skiff on the Sheepscot River.

Born in New Jersey, she grew up in a family where books were an important part of life. Her family summered in Maine. She did her undergraduate work at Chatham College - now Chatham University - in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and her graduate work at New York University, completing all requirements for a doctorate except for the dissertation, a 'DWD', and joining AT&T as a manager. Her grandmother was an antiques dealer, and in 1976 she started an antique print business, and decided she should become a writer. She also, as a single parent, adopted four “older” girls born in Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong and India.

It was in 1998 that she left the corporate life and moved to live in Edgecomb, Maine. She now divides her time between her writing and her antique print business.