Margaret A. Blenkush was a voracious reader as a child. In the summertime, she and her twin sister would pull a wagon to the local library to check out the limit of 10 picture books each. For the mile trip home, one would pull and one follow behind to catch any book that would fall out of the overflowing wagon. In a day or two all the books would be read and the process would repeat itself. As she graduated from picture books to chapter books, Margaret became captivated by biographies of women who overcame extraordinary societal odds to become trailblazers in their chosen fields. The Benedictine sisters at her college also gave her role models to emulate. These women and growing up during the “Space Age” gave Margaret an “anything is possible” mindset which allowed her to publish her first novel at the age of sixty-seven.

 

She is a fourth-generation Minnesotan who writes from her childhood home in South Saint Paul.  The fictional English village of Bellechester is, in many ways, a recreation of her 1960’s family and hometown. Readers and reviewers love her relatable characters and realistic dialogue that fill her award-winning books, The Doctor of Bellechester and Welcome to Bellechester.