Born in Neptune, New Jersey, Freely grew up in Turkey and now lives in England, where she lectures at the University of Warwick and is an occasional contributor to The Guardian and The Independent newspapers. Among her novels is The Life of the Party, set in Turkey. She has also written The Other Rebecca, a contemporary version of Daphne du Maurier's classic novel Rebecca. Freely is also an occasional contributor to Cornucopia; a magazine about Turkey.

She is best known as the English translator of Orhan Pamuk's recent novels. She works closely with Pamuk on these translations, because they often serve as the basis when his work is translated into other languages. They were both educated simultaneously at Robert College in Istanbul, although they did not know each another at the time.

Freely translated and wrote an introduction to Fethiye Çetin's memoir, My Grandmother.

She is the daughter of author John Freely, and has a brother, Brendan.Maureen Freely is a mother of four children and two step children.

• Enlightenment (2008)
• The Other Rebecca (2000)
• Mother's Helper (1982)
• The Stork Club (1995)
• What About Us (1996)
• The Parent Trap (2002)
• Under the Vulcania (1994)
• The Life of the Party (1986)

Translations

For Orhan Pamuk:

• The Black Book
• Snow
• Other Colors: Essays and a story
• Memories and the City
• The Museum of Innocence

For Fethiye Çetin

• My Grandmother