Marilyn Harris Books In Order

Publication Order of Eden Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Marilyn Harris was a prominent American writer of historical fiction, historical romance, gothic, European literature, drama, and horror stories. She was best known for writing her popular novel series, the Eden series. This seven-book series is popular even today. The series follows a historical saga based on the life of England’s Eden family. In addition to this exciting series, Harris has also written a single novel called Hatter Fox. This 1973 novel had become an instant bestseller and was later adapted into a movie by CBS in 1977 under the title of The Girl Called Hatter Fox. Author Harris was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, on June 4, 1931. Her father, John P., was an oil executive, while her mother Dora Harris was a homemaker. During her early days, Harris has attended Cottey College in her state. She studied there between 1945 and 1951 and then switched over to Oklahoma University.

Harris graduated from the university with a bachelor’s degree in arts in 1953. It was followed by a master’s degree from the same university in 1955. The writing career of author Harris began in 1967 with a short story collection called King’s Ex. Following the release of this collection, Harris turned into a prolific writer and went on to publish over 20 books. They included short stories, novels, children’s fiction, historical fiction, and romance books. These books were released at the rate of one book per year between 1970 and 1989. Harris’s success as an author began early when her novel, Hatter Fox, was chosen to be adapted into a TV movie. It featured Joanelle Romero and Ronny Cox in the lead roles as Hatter Fox and Dr. Teague Summer respectively. This was the first time the leading role in a movie was played by an actress of Native American origin. Over the course of her career, Harris saw a great increase in the readership of her work.

In 1983, more than 9 million copies of her books were available in print format. There have been translations into multiple languages of Harris’s novels, including Portuguese, Japanese, French, Spanish, Polish, and German. Another highlight of Harris’s career is that she was a writer-in-residence at the Central State University of Oklahoma. The list of awards won by the author is huge. It includes the O. Henry Award, Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, Literary Award by Oklahoma University, Hall of Fame Award, Distinguished Alumni Award by Cottey College, Oklahoma Writers’ Federation Teepee Award, etc. Author Harris was married to a professor named Edgar V. Springer. After their marriage in 1953, the couple had become parents of two children, Karen Louise, and John P. Harris breathed her last on January 18, 2002, in Norman, Oklahoma.

Throughout her writing career, Harris was always excited to come up with interesting new stories. She always worked hard to entertain her fans. It was her belief that she could keep her fans engaged in her work only with exciting stories. She never rushed to finish the writing part of a novel with the intention of publishing it as she felt that it would deteriorate her work and she would be doing injustice with her writing talent by doing so. So, Harris always took her time to polish her work and proofread every page so as to not make any mistakes and provide her best to her readers. Many noteworthy critics and reviewers have reviewed her work and praised her efforts in coming up with such interesting novels. They have hailed her as one of the noteworthy writers of her time. Harris was always hopeful of getting the love and support of her fans. She had confidence in her writing skills and storytelling abilities to make the readers keep reading her stories from start to finish. Even her family members and relatives extended their support to her and motivated her to keep doing her excellent work. Harris felt proud that she was able to do justice to her God-gifted talent. She wanted to write more stories, but the limitations of old age prevented her. Her failing health also didn’t allow her to work much during the later years. Harris was quite content with whatever name and fame she could achieve and joyfully handed over the important task of keeping the legacy of literature alive to the upcoming authors of that time.

The Eden series written by author Marilyn Harris consists of seven books in total released between 1977 and 1989. Each book of this series revolves around the members of the Eden family. Some of the essential characters mentioned in the novels by Harris include Thomas Eden, Marianne Locke, Edward Eden, John Murrey Eden, Lady Mary Eden, Elizabeth Eden, Lady Lila Harrington, Dhari, Harriet Eden, Susan Mantle, Burke, Stephen, Eve, Charlotte Eden, etc. Author Harris has set the stories in Devon, England. An interesting book of the series is entitled ‘The Prince of Eden’. It was released in 1978 by Avon publication. Initially, Edward Eden is introduced as a passionate and nobleman. He is the heir to enormous wealth, but is not allowed to possess the title of the estate of Lord Thomas Eden because of being his bastard. Edward rises to become a splendid libertine and then falls into the web of addiction. A dashing, willing man, Edward drank freely and recklessly. He lost himself completely in the love of one woman and was her intoxicating thirst. But, his world comes shattering down when Edward learns that he is forbidden to love her and quench her thirst.

Another exciting book penned by the author in this series is called ‘The Eden Passion’. It was published by Ballantine Books in 1987. The book opens by mentioning that John Murrey Eden came to Eden Castle in Devon following the death of his father. After burying the man and his legend, he moved ahead to claim the castle and all the other possessions of his father that had become rightfully his. Among all the fortune that John Murrey thought would become his very soon, was the beautiful mistress known as the Lady of Eden who was his father’s mistress. John Murrey knew that he was forbidden to love her, but still moved ahead with the intention of facing all the challenges that would come in his path. From their forbidden, tragic love, the mistress fled into the endless guilt’s tormented darkness and John Murrey wandered from place to place to look for the honor. Their future was without any past and their love did not have an end. This novel succeeded in reaching out to a large number of readers across the globe and became immensely popular.