Mary McGarry Morris (born February 10, 1943) is an American novelist, short story author and playwright from New England. She uses its towns as settings for her works. In 1991, Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times described Morris as "one of the most skillful new writers at work in America today"; The Washington Post has described her as a "superb storyteller"; and The Miami Herald has called her "one of our finest American writers". She has been most often compared to John Steinbeck and Carson McCullers. Although her writing style is different, Morris also has been compared to William Faulkner for her character-driven storytelling. She was a finalist for the National Book Award and PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. As of 2011, Morris has published eight novels, some of which were best-sellers, and numerous short stories. She also has written a play about the insanity trial of Mary Todd Lincoln. Published novels Vanished, her first novel, was written over a 10-year period; only her husband and children knew that she was working at writing. It was rejected by numerous publishers and agents before agent Jean Naggar helped her sell it to Viking Press. It was published in 1988 to favorable reviews and was a finalist for the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. Her 1991 novel A Dangerous Woman was named by Time as one of its Five Best Novels of the Year and as one of the best books of the year by American Library Association (ALA) Library Journal. Based on A Dangerous Woman, Morris won the Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers Award. The novel was adapted for a 1993 movie of the same name, which starred Debra Winger, Gabriel Byrne, David Strathairn, Barbara Hershey, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jake Gyllenhaal. Her 1995 novel (her third) Songs in Ordinary Time, sold one and one-half million copies, was a New York Times Bestseller, and a selection of Oprah's Book Club. It was adapted as a CBS television movie starring Sissy Spacek and Beau Bridges. Her fourth novel, Fiona Range (2000), was published to critical acclaim. A reviewer for The New York Times Book Review stated Morris can "bring the ordinary to life with the sheer clarity of vision. She knows how a house with children in it sounds at night, what the heat and bustle in a kitchen feel like before a family dinner and how