MARY D’AMORE

WRITER AND ILLUSTRATOR

My name is Mary D’Amore. I’m an American writer and artist living on the Sourland Mountain in New Jersey with my husband, Mike.

I’ve written 17 children’s books, and my novel, Sourland Farm, is currently being edited and beta-read. (Querying)

Sourland Farm is a modern retelling of Wuthering Heights - a study in Victorian vs. modern societies, and invites historical empathy. In my debut novel, I follow 6-year olds Caroline and Hadley from their meeting in 1969 to the very ends of their lives, the next generation completing the story. The Sourland Mountain of New Jersey, an isolated place long thought to be haunted, makes a perfect setting for Victorian Gothic homage -

Click to Read PROJECT RATIONALE

Early Reader Review: “Mary’s preface and introduction provide clear windows into the vast challenges of modernizing a dark tale by 150-200 years. Her conversion is absolutely plausible, in part because she lives on the Sourland Mountain, widely regarded when I lived there in the ‘80s just as she describes: natural, semi-tamed, eerie, perhaps dangerous —a perfect setting. This is a tale of flawed people living in rural isolation in that setting, where mental health was unevenly understood and not necessarily valued. Love had to coexist with ignorance, naiveté, neglect, illness, jealousy, greed, bitterness, and obsession. Disagreements were often strikingly frank and crossed generations. As Mary asks in her introduction, “Is (Brontë ) portraying mental illness or the very essence of human nature itself, as natural as the wind and rain?” Employing a NYC tenant new to the mountain to prompt the housekeeper to relate the complex story is a realistic device, mirroring the plot line in Wuthering Heights. Considerable skill was required to keep the manifold characters, traumas, motivations, flashbacks, joys and interwoven tales flowing smoothly. Sourland Farm is a beautifully written, provocative story.”

Pete Jaques, author of Shaking Hands with Tomorrow: An Independent School Leader’s Hard-Earned Lessons

Scroll down to view my children’s books, which introduce historical and legendary themes that contain factual adventures and myth.

Contemporary children’s stories are based on my family’s life and usually involve animals - chickens, horses, cats, and even “stuffed.”

SCROLL DOWN AND CLICK ON BOOK IMAGES TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CHILDRENS COLLECTION .