About Ashlee

Ashlee Cowles is the author of the award-winning Young Adult novel Beneath Wandering Stars (Simon & Schuster 2016, Colorado Book Award 2017), its sequel Below Northern Lights, and The Poppy and The Rose (Owl Hollow Press 2020), a YA Historical Mystery.

With her lifelong friend Danielle Stinson, Ashlee also writes under the pseudonym A.D. Rhine. HORSES OF FIRE and DAUGHTERS OF BRONZE, an epic and historically-rooted duology of the Trojan War for adults (Dutton Books /Penguin-Random House, July 2023 & Nov 2024), is the story they’ve always dreamt of writing together.

Raised as a “third culture” military kid without permanent roots, Ashlee lived her most formative years overseas and has spent significant time in Germany, Spain, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. She loves traveling and learning about other cultures both past and present–all of which influence her writing.

After pursuing graduate degrees in Theological Ethics from Duke University and Medieval History from the University of St. Andrews, Ashlee encountered the Big Questions young people like to ask firsthand as a high school teacher and a college instructor. She currently works in marketing as a copywriter and has also held positions as an editor, curriculum designer, and nonprofit grant writer.

Ashlee lives among the vineyards, lakes, and forests of northern Michigan with her husband and two children, where she is forever doing research for her next novel and daydreaming about a new adventure to some distant land.

Want to get in touch? Connect with Ashlee via her book club for readers, New Places & Past Ages, or send a message to ashleelcowles[at]gmail.com.

Ashlee is represented by Shannon Hassan of the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.