Delia Ray

Delia Ray writes historical nonfiction and novels for young readers, drawing on archives, local stories, and material traces of earlier lives. Finding Fortune follows twelve year old Ren, who leaves home for the nearly abandoned Iowa town of Fortune and stays in a former school that has become a boarding house. There she meets Hugh and joins a search for pearls connected to the town button making past. Farrar, Straus and Giroux published the middle grade novel in 2015. Ray uses the mystery to explore family misunderstanding, forgiveness, preservation, and the way community history can survive in buildings and ordinary objects. Her childhood in an old Virginia farmhouse began a lasting fascination with antiques and forgotten places. That interest also shapes Here Lies Linc and Singing Hands. History drives adventure.