Mary Eccles

Mary Eccles grew up in the Midwest, the setting of her first novel, By Lizzie. After graduating from Harvard University, she worked as a journalist for The Washington Star, The New Republic, and Congressional Quarterly. Following the completion of a doctorate in public policy at Harvard, Mary’s next career was on Capitol Hill. She held positions as legislative assistant to Rep. Stanley Lundine (D NY) and to Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D WVa); as a senior economist on the Joint Economic Committee staff; and as legislative director to Sen. Kent Conrad (D ND). Before leaving government in 1995, she served in the U.S. Department of Labor as a legislative and economic advisor to former Secretary Robert B. Reich.

By Lizzie was inspired in part by the author’s early interests in reporting. Lizzie, going-on-ten, is an aspiring writer whose mother works for the local newspaper. An old manual typewriter provides Lizzie the means of coping with the inconveniences and indignities of being the middle child in her family: she comes to see the humor in her predicaments as she types them up in monthly installments over the course of a year.

Short stories by Mary Eccles have appeared in Fine Print and received an award from the Antietam Review. She is at work on a second children’s novel, set on Cape Cod, as well as a novel based in Washington, D.C. during the 1950’s and ’60’s. She and her husband have three children — a son in college and two daughters who live with the family in the Washington, D.C. area.