Lea's Autobiography
Lea Wait
Lea Wait
 
 
I was born in 1946, but in many ways I had a nineteenth century childhood. 

I spent winters in New Jersey and summers in Maine, living with my parents and my grandparents. My grandmother was the first person to take me to a library, or encourage me to read. She also tried to teach me to embroider, to sew a fine line, to knit, to set a table correctly, to polish silver, and to always keep my knees together. I listened, but I preferred building tree houses or riding my bicycle to sitting quietly – unless I was sitting with a book. She had me read Shakespeare’s plays out loud to her, and encouraged me to read and talk about adult books when I was just in grade school. Many of the books she suggested were nineteenth century novels about brave women or girls who succeeded through hard work and gumption. She believed possibilities were unlimited, and books could lead you to them.
 
 
M.A.H. Antique Prints Booth
M.A.H. Antique Prints Booth
 
My grandmother was an antiques dealer who specialized in old dolls and toys. I loved to play under the tables in her booth at antique shows. The first fifty cents I ever earned was for “booth sitting” so another dealer could take a dinner break. I loved antiques because they had been valued by people in the past, and carried that pride and love into today.

Some day, I thought, I’ll be a writer, and an antique dealer, too. I'll live in Maine. And I'll adopt children, like Jo did in Little Men. I was the editor of my high school newspaper, and then wrote plays and poetry as a drama and English major at Chatham College in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After college I worked in public relations for AT&T. I went to New York University at night, doing graduate work in American Civilization.

In 1976 I did start an antique print business, but my mother ran it, since about that time my life became very busy. When I was in my late twenties I decided it was the right time to become a mother.
 
 
Lea's granddaughter, Taylor
Lea's granddaughter, Taylor


 Granddaughters Vanessa and Sam
I adopted four “older” girls born in Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong and India, founded a support group for single adoptive parents, edited an adoptive parent newsletter, and became very involved with adoption advocacy. 

Now my daughters are grown, and I am the proud grandmother of four girls and two boys.   

In 1998 I left corporate life to live the dreams I had yet to fulfill: to live in Maine, run the antique print business I started many years before, and write. I hope you enjoy reading my books as much as I have enjoyed writing them.
 
And -- one more dream fulfilled! October 28, 2003 I married Bob Thomas -- only 12,994 days after we'd met. The best things in life sometimes take time.
 
I have two favorite quotations:
 
"It is never too late to be what you might have been." -- George Eliot
 
and        
 
"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved." -- William Jennings Bryan
 
 
BIOGRAPHY: LEA WAIT
 
Maine author Lea Wait is a fourth generation antique dealer who has been dealing in antique prints since 1977. She grew up in New Jersey and Maine, and then did her undergraduate work at Chatham College in Pittsburgh, and her graduate work at New York University, where she earned her MA and DWD. While raising the four Asian daughters she adopted as a single parent Lea Wait worked in public relations and strategic planning for AT&T; now she divides her time between her writing and her antique business.
 
She is the author of the Shadows Antique Print Mystery series. SHADOWS AT THE FAIR was a finalist for a "best first mystery" Agatha Award in 2002;  SHADOWS ON THE COAST OF MAINE was a Mystery Guild "Editor's Choice" in 2003.  SHADOWS ON THE IVY (2004) was also a Mystery Guild selection, and was called "fresh and relevant"  and "hot stuff!" by The New York Times.  Of SHADOWS AT THE SPRING SHOW, published in 2005, Mystery Scene Magazine wrote "It's hard to praise too highly Wait's skill at plotting, her ability at building suspense, and her ability to make so many diverse characters come alive."
 
Lea Wait also writes historical novels for ages seven and up set on the coast of Maine.  STOPPING TO HOME was named a "notable children's book of 2001" by Smithsonian Magazine and the Bank Street College of Education;  SEAWARD BORN (2003,) also a Bank Street College "notable book," is recommended by the International Reading Association. WINTERING WELL (2004,) which she was invited to introduce at Vermont's Brattleboro Literary Festival in October of 2004, was called "a treasure waiting to be found" by Kirkus Reviews, and was her third Bank Street College "notable book." Kirkus called FINEST KIND, published in October, 2006, "a story that will linger in the hearts of readers." 
 
Lea is a member of the following professional organizations:

The Authors Guild (http://www.authorsguild.org)
Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance (http://www.mainewriters.org)
Mystery Writers of America (http://www.mysterywriters.org)
Sisters in Crime (http://www.sistersincrime.org)
Historical Novel Society (http://www.historicalnovelsociety.org)
Crime Writers International
Novelists, Inc.  (http://www.ninc.com)
Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators (http://www.scbwi.org) 
  and
Maine Antique Dealers Association (http://www.maineantiques.org) 
American Historical Print Collectors Society, Inc.

 
All contents Copyright (c) 2002 Lea Wait. All rights reserved.
No text or images may be reproduced without the express written consent of the owner.

Powered by 2-Tier Software, Inc.