“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, New York Times bestselling 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, New York Times bestselling 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

“Mel Allen captures the soul of New England in compelling profiles of its people and their connections to the places they live. You will laugh, cry, and remember them. His own story is an added gift.”

— Christina Tree, author of Explorer Guides to Maine and Vermont

“Before I picked up Here in New England, I knew (and loved) one of the people of whom Allen wrote—the writer Edie Clark. After I turned the final page, I knew dozens of other remarkable people, all of whom Allen cherishes in his writing. And whom I now cherish, too.”

— Debra Spark, author of Discipline

“Mel Allen writes love stories – but not the expected type. In his stories couples and families are united in their love for their work, their neighbors, their place in the world. Devotion is Mel’s subject. If there’s a secret to the magic that Mel conjures, it’s this: he listens. That’s devotion.”

— Howard Mansfield, author of I Will Tell No War Stories

NPR interview to air August 2025

Boston Globe interview and other print, radio, tv, podcasts opportunites

Social media and lots of readings/presentations