Heather Barbieri
The author of three novels, The Cottage at Glass Beach (Harper, 2012), The Lace Makers of Glenmara (Harper, 2009) and Snow in July (Soho, 2004), Heather Barbieri has been awarded fellowships and international prizes for her short stories. Before turning to fiction full time, she was a magazine editor, journalist, and film critic.
Heather is half Irish. Her paternal ancestors left counties Donegal and Tipperary after surviving The Great Famine; they worked in the coal mines of Eastern Pennsylvania before settling in Butte, Montana, a rugged town in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, which, though having nary a hint of green in its landscape, once boasted the largest gaelic-speaking population outside of Ireland.
Heather was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. She lives in Seattle with her family.
“She let her mind drift, thinking about new lingerie designs, wishing she'd brought along her sketchpad. Inspiration could strike at the most inconvenient times--in the shower, in the car, on this road--but she was grateful it was with her again, an old companion with whom she was getting reacquainted, pleased to find they could take up where they'd left off, as if there'd been no estrangement at all.”
“...but destiny had a number of tricks up her sleeve, didn't she, both joyful and tragic?”
“So you're a reader of books - and people?”