The Storyteller takes place in the early twentieth century, set between New York City and the Maine coast. Leaving behind her father, the head gardener of the Willoughby Estate, Jessica Maguire follows her grandfather to New York City in 1913, where she continues to write fairy tales, which appear throughout The Storyteller . Jessica's entry into the world of romance becomes unforeseeably complicated and moving. Elizabeth Reed wrote The Storyteller during the late 1970's, while serving on the fellowship committee and administrative staff of the Bread Loaf Writers Conference. Her poetry, also under the name Elizabeth Mansfield, appeared in Intro 3: A Collection of The Finest Writing on The New American Literary Scene , ed. by R.V. Cassill, 1970. She has an MFA and PhD from Cornell University.