Mary A. Osborne is the award-winning author of Alchemy's Daughter and Nonna's Book of Mysteries. Her stories were inspired by travels to Tuscany and the walled village of Certaldo--home of medieval author Giovanni Boccaccio--where Ms. Osborne envisioned her young heroines slipping through the narrow, cobbled streets and ancient piazzas. Reading about alchemy, including work by C.G. Jung, gave her the idea for A Manual to the Science of Alchemy, a fictitious book from which excerpts appear in both Alchemy's Daughter and Nonna's Book of Mysteries. An enchanting blend of history, alchemy, adventure, and romance, her writing appeals to adults as well as teens.
Ms. Osborne's first novel, Nonna's Book of Mysteries, was a Foreword Reviews 2010 Book of the Year winner and an American Library Association 2011 Amelia Bloomer nominee. Alchemy's Daughter is the author's second novel and the recipient of the gold award for both young adult fiction and young adult historical fiction in the 2014 Literary Classics Youth Media Competition. Her third book, The Last of the Magicians, is slated for release in 2018.A graduate of Rush University and Knox College, where she was mentored in the Creative Writing Program, Ms. Osborne is a registered nurse and holds degrees in chemistry and nursing. Her freelance work has appeared in publications including Hektoen International, NewCity, and Examiner.com.
She is a Chicago native.