Elaine Russell was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She became an avid reader at an early age, devouring her parent’s childhood books, such as The Bobbsey Twins, Little Women, and Treasure Island, with their glorious color plates. In junior high school, she read Jane Eyre and Anna Karenina. She knew that one day she wanted to write. 

She graduated from the University of California at Davis with a history degree, then California State University Sacramento with a masters in economics. She worked as a resource economist in the energy and environmental field, writing reports that turned unintelligible technical materials into something laypersons could read and comprehend. She met her husband Roy McDonald, a geographer, through work, and they ran their own environmental consulting firm for a number of years.

Elaine began writing fiction for adults and children over twenty-five years ago. She and her family love traveling, and most of her novels are set in locations she has visited. She enjoys weaving the culture and history of other places into her stories, and takes pleasure in researching her subjects.

Elaine’s novel, In the Company of Like Minded Women (October 2018), set in 1901 Denver, explores the complexities and bonds between sisters and family at the start of the 20th century. Women struggled to determine their future and the “New Woman” demanded an equal voice. The inspiration for several characters began with stories her mother told her about family members, such as her great grandmother who became a doctor in Denver in 1907. Colorado, with its Wild West origins, was surprisingly progressive at the time. It was the second state to grant women the vote in 1893, twenty-seven years before the passage of women’s suffrage at the national level in 1920. The story provides rich details of the era and celebrates the courage and strength of an earlier generation of women. 

Her first adult novel, Across the Mekong River (2012), originated from her interest in the Hmong immigrant community in Sacramento. A trip to Laos led to volunteering with the US-based nonprofit, Legacies of War, which deepened her understanding of the history. The group advocates for funding to clear unexploded ordnance in Laos, resulting from US bombing during the Vietnam War. She returned to Laos several times with Legacies and on her own. She has written and lectured extensively on the war in Laos and the exodus of Lao, Hmong, and other refugees once the conflict ended. Across the Mekong River was a finalist in the Carolina Wren Press 2010 Doris Bakwin Award for adult novels, the Maui Writer’s Conference 2003 Rupert Hughes Prose Writing Competition, and the Focus on Writers 2001 Friends of the Sacramento Library Awards. The novel also won four independent publisher awards in 2013.

Elaine is also the author of a number of children’s books. She has two picture, Thai Celebrations for Children (2022) and All About Thailand (2016), with Tuttle Publishing. Elaine’s middle grade mystery series features skateboarding heroes Martin McMillan and Isabel Hernandez in fun, fast-paced stories appropriate for reluctant readers: Martin McMillan and the Lost Inca City, is now in its second edition; Martin McMillan and the Secret of the Ruby Elephant won four 2013 independent publisher awards, Martin McMillan and the Sacred Stones won a 2015 Moonbeam Children’s Book Award. Her young adult romance Montana in A Minor, was a Friends of the Sacramento Library Awards winner in 2010 and won two independent publisher awards in 2015.

Elaine lives with her husband in Sacramento, California.