Marilyn McMeen Brown was born in 1938 into a Denver, Colorado family about to transfer to Bremerton, Washington, where Pearl Harbor soon raged. Black paper lined the windows, and massive balloons anchored by thick cables waved like giant flowers over the Navy yard to protect ships and men. She recorded the drama of this WWII history in her novel, House on the Sound, contrasting war with her parents’ LDS conversion and baptism in the Puget Sound.
When the McMeens moved to Provo, Utah, in 1945, leaving their father to wrap up his Navy yard assignments, the family faced difficulties reminiscent of the pioneers. In Road to Covered Bridge. Marilyn wrote this history that became the first prize-winning novel of the Utah State Fine Arts Council in 1991.
Loving school, Marilyn earned both BYU’s B.A. and M.A. in English language and literature, and was honored with the first Mayhew writing prize ever given (1962). Her MFA came from the U. of U. in 1992.
In 1964 she married talented musician Lloyd Miller, and won her greatest prize—her daughter Simeen, now in her 50s, who gives back love uncompromised. Because Miller’s talent was overwhelming, a divorce threw Marilyn into nine years of single motherhood. In 1975 she was lucky to find real estate broker Bill Brown along with his five children. (Now sixteen grandchildren and twelve greats!) Bill furnished space and time for her to write, and she produced The Earthkeepers, 1979, Provo’s history, earning the first place award in the AML novel competition. The large volume was later divided at Covenant Communications into Thorns of the Sun, 1992, and Shadows of Angels, 1993. A sequel, Royal House, came in 1994. She also published four poetry and four non-fiction books along the way.
Working for CFI, she produced four Christmas books, and five important novels (see Bibliography). When she met Linda Prince of Walnut Springs Press, she felt a kinship with this excellent editor, and continued to publish five books with her.
Work
Bibliography
Historical Novels
The Earthkeepers. Self-published, 1979. AML Award.
Thorns of the Sun. The first section of The Earthkeepers reprinted by Covenant Communications, 1992.
Shadows of Angels. The second section of The Earthkeepers reprinted by Covenant Communications, 1992.
Royal House, Covenant Communications, 1994.
The Light in the Room, CFI, 2002.
Statehood, CFI, 1995.
The Wine-Dark Sea of Grass, CFI, 2000. Won Publisher’s award.
House on the Sound, CFI, 2000. This book also won the publisher’s award.
Serpent in Paradise, CFI, 2006.
Christmas at the M&M, CFI, 2000.
The Holly Christmas, CFI, 2000.
The Macaroni Christmas Tree, CFI, 2001.
Fires of Jerusalem, Parables, 2011.
The Rosefields of Zion, Walnut Springs, 2014.
Waking in Tombstone. I have always been interested in the OK Corral. This is my story about that incident. Walnut Springs Press, 2014.
The Accidental Goodbye, Walnut Springs, 2016.
Road to Covered Bridge, Walnut Springs Press, 2018.
The Black Canary, Walnut Springs, 2018.
Thank You for the Daisies, Walnut Springs, 2020.
NON-FICTION
Families Lost and Found (with Lee Nelson) Genealogical stories. CFI, 2005.
Provo, a Story of People in Motion (with John Moffitt), History of Provo, CFI, 2005.
I Cannot Tell a Life (with Florence Brown), a primary document. Salt Press, 1999.
Provo: Images of America (with Valerie Holladay). A history of Provo for the company that organizes histories for small towns. Arcadia, 2011.
POETRY
Rainflowers, Salt Press, 1969.
I Have Lost my Heart Again. I pray I will not lose my Head. Amen, Art Publishers, 1974.
Seven Ways of Looking at Watercress Farm, Art Publishers, 1969.
The Grandmother Tree, Art Publishers, 1978.
MUSICALS
Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Musical was recently performed in 2019 in Spanish Fork. It was widely performed in Vermont, Australia, Utah, etc.
The Merry Nutcracker.
