Bedford native Maria Lenihan (formerly Maria Colella) published her debut novel, Morning Glory Girl, on June 20, 2025. The novel follows a 31-year-old corporate attorney going through severe work burnout at her NYC law firm. When a fainting spell at work compels her to take a break, she spends her time off on Martha’s Vineyard with her grandmother, where she discovers her real passion for writing and finds love.

Maria’s family moved to Bedford when she was eight years old and has lived here ever since. She went to Peter Woodbury, McKelvie, and then West High for one year. Then she went on to Phillips Exeter, Harvard, and Boston College Law School. Her brothers, Daniel and Kyle, are both graduates of Bedford High. Her parents, Joe and Carol, still live here in Bedford, and she and her husband, Patrick, visit frequently.

Maria studied applied math in college, but after taking electives in Constitutional Law, she felt drawn to the legal field. Following law school, she practiced corporate law for a law firm in Boston, focusing on licensing transactions for pharmaceutical and biotech clients. During the pandemic, she dusted off an old manuscript she’d started in college, and she completed her first novel in 2022 during a medical leave from work.

After experiencing severe work burnout herself, she was inspired to write a story of a millennial woman’s experience in the high-pressure environment of a big law firm, and the toll it can take on mental health. She wanted the story to reach women who need its message: that it’s not a failure to take a break when you need it, or to prioritize health and passion over traditional notions of success and status. This book became Morning Glory Girl. The story is also a steamy single dad romance that will appeal to fans of Carley Fortune, Emily Henry, and Abby Jimenez’s summer romance novels. Morning Glory Girl has been enjoyed by hundreds of readers so far, and Maria’s goal is to reach as many readers as possible, whether because they will relate to the burnout representation or enjoy steamy romances with a cast of compelling side characters.  

She also has a new novel,Better Off Not Knowing—a speculative legal drama set twenty years in the future in a society where genetic testing is mandatory, and the results wreaked havoc on the main character's life– that is releasing soon. And many more to come! She’s now represented by 1852 Literary Agency, and she hopes her future novels will reach an even bigger audience through traditional publishing channels.

Locally, you can find copies of Morning Glory Girl for sale at Sullivan Framing & Fine Art Gallery or through the Bedford Library.