American · 1918–2005
Mary Lee Settle won the National Book Award in 1978 for "Blood Tie," a novel set in Turkey during political upheaval. The American author is best known for her Beulah Quintet, five novels spanning four centuries of American history from seventeenth-century England to twentieth-century West Virginia. Settle served in the RAF during World War II and lived in Turkey, England, and Virginia. Her ambition was epic; her reputation has dimmed since her death in 2005.