Mary O'Hara Alsop was born on July 10, 1885, in New Jersey and she grew up in New York. In 1905 she married Kent Kane Parrot and moved to California where she became a screenwriter during the silent film era. Her second marriage to Helge Sture-Vasa, in 1922, brought her to Wyoming, and there she wrote the three classics about the range country under the name of Mary O'Hara: 'My Friend Flicka', 'Thunderhead' and 'Green Grass of Wyoming'. These books have all been made into movies, and My Friend Flicka has been published in several languages. Mary O'Hara wrote six other books and also composed music for the piano.