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Lea Wait's childhood was divided between the coast of Maine and the suburbs of New Jersey. She was close to her grandmother, a dealer in antique dolls and toys, who also introduced her to Shakespeare, 19th century novels, and family stories. Her family's home in Maine, the same home Lea lives in today, was built in 1774, and she was fascinated then (and now) by thinking of those who had lived there in the past, and learning their stories. Books became a major part of Lea's life almost as soon as she could read, and she decided she would be a writer when she was in second grade. She attended Chatham College (now University) in Pittsburgh, PA, majoring in drama and English, and concentrated on children's theatre. When she graduated she got a job writing speeches for AT&T in NYC, and attended graduate school at New York University at night, majoring in American Civilization. As a single parent she adopted 4 girls, ages 4-10, from Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong and India, and worked in strategic planning and public relations at AT&T and was very active in adoption advocacy until her daughters were grown. In her early fifties she left corporate life and moved to Maine, where she began writing fiction full-time, and, a few years later, married artist Bob Thomas, a man she had met 'way back when she first worked for AT&T. She now has eight grandchildren, and when she is not writing, enjoys speaking at schools, libraries and conferences, and finding ways to bring books to children, and making reading as exciting to them as it has been to her. For the past 30 years she has also been a part-time antique print dealer, with a wide inventory of prints, specializing in the wood engraving of Winslow Homer, who she loved depicting in her mystery, SHADOWS OF A DOWN EAST SUMMER.
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