About
L. M. Elliott was an award-winning magazine journalist for 20 years before becoming a New York Times bestselling author of historical and biographical novels. Three-time finalist for the National Magazine Award and winner of multiple Dateline Awards, Elliott wrote long "new journalism" features, focused primarily on health, the arts, and women's issues. Her extensive reporting experiences inform and enrich her novels' plots, themes, and characters.
Her 14 novels cover a variety of era--–the Cold War, WWII, the Great Depression, American Revolution, and the Italian Renaissance–--and are for a variety of readerships, ages middle grade to adult. Her works have been honored with the Scott O'Dell, VLA Cardinal Cup, and Grateful American prizes for historical fiction; been named NCSS/CBC Notables, Bank Street College of Education Bests, Kirkus Bests, Capitol Choices, NYPL Book for the Teen Age, Junior Library Guild Gold Selections, and to the TXLA Tayshas HS Reading Lists; as well as named finalists for state awards in VA, MD, PA, UT, ME, VT, KS, IA, and SC. She holds a BA from Wake Forest University and a MA in journalism from UNC-Chapel Hill.
Featured Work
Truth, Lies, and the Questions in Between
As a presidency unravels and the fight for women’s rights intensifies, a teen girl’s future will be determined by her willingness to seek the truth, in this stunning work of historical fiction perfect for fans of Monica Hesse and Malinda Lo.
Patty Appleton is making history. As one of the Senate’s first female Congressional Pages, she’s not only paving the way for other politically minded girls, she has a front-row seat to debates dividing the nation, especially around women’s rights and roles. The battle between the old ways and the new polarizes the women in Patty’s life, and she finds herself torn between traditional expectations—to be anobedient daughter aspiring to become a perfect wife—and questions new friends like fiercely feminist Simone encourage her to ask.
But the questions don’t stop at women’s rights: The Watergate scandal is intensifying. As evidence mounts that the White House engaged in crimes, smears, and cover-ups to manipulate an election, Patty worries her dad, a fundraiser for President Nixon, could somehow be involved. Determining truth from lies becomes ever more essential for the nation’s future—and for Patty’s.
Illustrated throughout with remarkable real-life images and headlines, this timely exploration of 1973—the year of Watergate hearings, the Equal Rights Amendment, and Roe v. Wade—unfolds through the story of a young woman driven to question everything as she learns to think for, and rely on, herself.
Other Works
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Bea and the New Deal Horse
2023
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Louisa June and the Nazis in the Waves
2022
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Walls
2021
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Storm Dog
2020
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Hamilton and Peggy! A Revolutionary Friendship
2018
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Suspect Red
2017
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Da Vinci's Tiger
2015
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Across a War-Tossed Sea
2014
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Thanksgiving Day Thanks
2013
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A String of Hearts
2010
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A Troubled Peace
2009
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Hunter's Big Sister
2007
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Give Me Liberty
2006
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Hunter and Stripe and the Soccer Showdown
2005
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Annie, Between the States
2004
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Flying South
2003
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Hunter's Best Friend at School
2002
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Under a War-Torn Sky
2001
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Shattered Dreams: The Story of Charlotte Fedders
1987
