John Ehle, whose historical novels set in the Appalachian Mountains were acclaimed for the authenticity of the characters’ lives, and whose work for the governor of North Carolina in the 1960s led to significant changes in arts education, died on March 24 at his home in Winston-Salem, N.C. He was 92.

His death was announced by the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, which he attended and where he taught for a dozen years.

Mr. Ehle, who had been married to the British actress Rosemary Harris since 1967, wrote radio dramas, biographies, a nonfiction account of student civil rights protests at Chapel Hill, a history of the Cherokee Nation and a guide to French and British wines and cheeses.

But he is best known for his seven Appalachian novels, which were partly inspired by stories he heard from his mother’s family, whose roots in the mountains went back several generations.