Mary Lee Settle

Mary Lee Settle (1918-2005) was an acclaimed American novelist best known for her Beulah Quintet, a series of five historical novels tracing West Virginia's history from the 1750s to the present, which she considered her masterwork.[1][3][6] She won the National Book Award in 1978 for Blood Tie, set among expatriates in Turkey, and was a founder of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.[1][2] Born in Charleston, West Virginia, she served in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force during World War II, lived internationally, and published numerous novels and nonfiction works exploring themes of rebellion, family, and history.[3][4][6]