Here In New England

HERE IN NEW ENGLAND Unforgettable stories of people, places, and memories that connect us all.

From the time he published his first story in Yankee in 1979 to the day he retired as its editor in 2025, Mel Allen’s writing has captured the unique essence of New England’s and the people who call it home. Here for the first time, Allen has collected 45 of his favorite pieces, adding intimate new introductions and postscripts to put them in context. The feel and flavor of New England lives within the covers of this engaging collection.

BOOK DETAILS Paperback, 320 pages ISBN: 978-1-621265-36-8 


ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mel Allen has spent nearly half a century finding fascinating people and places he wanted to write about and assigning countless others to the finest writers in New England. He became Yankee’s fifth editor in the summer of 2006, after previous roles as writer, senior editor, and executive editor. In 2018, he was inducted into the Folio Magazine Hall of Fame for editorial excellence. He has taught magazine writing and creative nonfiction for the past 25 years, divided between the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and MFA Bay Path. His previous book is A Coach’s Letter to His Son. He lives and writes in New Hampshire and can be reached at melallen716@gmail.com ADVANCE PRAISE “Time to meet Mel Allen’s Yankee neighbors: some are geniuses, some are ordinary. Some are lucky, others underdogs. But their stories all brim with decency, dignity, kindness, and courage. This beautifully written book restores your faith in humanity.” — Sy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an Octopus and Of Time and Turtles “For 45 years at Yankee magazine, Mel Allen wrote about New England and New Englanders and what makes this place special. The stories take us to the last horse-and-buggy egg man; to a sardine packer in Maine; to a search for a lost boy; and to the people who tried to save a young man’s life. This book is a love song to and a celebration of the unique people who call New England home.” — Ann Hood, author of The Knitting Circle and The Stolen Child “Mel Allen has assembled a portrait of a region across time that is both immediately recognizable and continuously surprising. This is not the New England of tourist brochures, and it is all the more lovely for it.” — Rowan Jacobsen, author of A Geography of Oysters and Apples of Uncommon Character “With warmth and insight, this extraordinary collection honors the people, places, and quiet dramas that define New England, enriched by Mel Allen’s boundless curiosity and uncommon empathy.” — Rachel Slade, author of Into the Raging Sea and Making It in America “Mel Allen is so knowledgeable about life in New England that as you read these engaging, wide-ranging essays you might well miss the precision and beauty of his sentences.” — Paul Doiron, author of The Poacher’s Son and Dead by Dawn