# Helen Mackay

## Biography

Helen Ganesvoort Edwards Mackay (1876-1961) was an American author who spent more than fifty years living in France. Fluent in English, French, and Italian, she wrote extensively in all three languages. Mackay garnered critical acclaim for her lyrical and emotionally intense style. Her English works include five books of short stories such as *Journal of Small Things* and *Houses of Glass*, along with a volume of poetry, *London One November*. She contributed to prestigious French publications like *Le Figaro*. Her French novel, *Patte Blanche*, earned her a French Academy prize, and she also authored the Italian novel *Vagabond*. During World War II, her English novel *With Love for France* vividly portrayed the wartime struggles and received high praise. Mackay was deeply involved in French life, with her country home even used to protect Louvre treasures during the war. She was recognized for her contributions by being made a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur. Her experiences as a nurse during the Great War profoundly influenced her modernist poetry and sketches, which often explored the destruction and human cost of conflict.

## Books

- [Journal of Small Things](https://samolit.com/books/95932)