Mary Eleanor Wilkins-Freeman (1852-1930) was a prominent female American writer known for her short stories and novels of life in New England villages. Freeman began writing stories and verse for children while still a teenager to help support her family and was quickly successful. She produced more than two dozen volumes of published short stories and novels. She is best known for two collections of stories; A Humble Romance and Other Stories, (1887) and A New England Nun and Other Stories (1891). Her stories deal mostly with New England life and are among the best of their kind. Freeman is also remembered for her novel Pembroke (1894).