About Heather

Heather has lived on a Canadian Gulf Island for most of her life, but when she was ten or so she lived on a farm in Southern Ontario and that experience is fictionalized in the Patti Stories. However, many of Patti's experiences are a blend of that setting and of raising her own family of three girls in a rural setting on Saltspring Island. These stories draw on the realities of both places and it is this that gives Heather's writing that extra ring of truth.

Heather has been a teacher, a CUSO volunteer in South America, and has sailed the Pacific in a wooden schooner. She has two BA s from the University of Victoria, in English and Psychology and in Creative Writing. She has also published poetry and magazine articles.

She is presently writing an adult novel set on the West Coast.




Saturday, November 19, 2016

Life on the Farm



In the first book that Heather wrote about her main character Patti, we meet her and her family. It is never absolutely clear what roots the family has but they have a Scottish name and both parents work off the farm. Dad at the local sawmill, and mom at the village bank branch. The farm is not much by modern standards: hay, cows, chickens, and is mortgaged. Not an unusual story at all. And Patti herself seems a pretty average ten year old kid with an older brother.
The thing is though, Patti may have no magical powers, but she has plenty of guts and determination and following her around in this first book is exhausting, exciting and sooo educational. Educational in the sense that Patti sets out to learn stuff about life and she belongs to a family that hasn't all the answers but will struggle along with her through this important year of her life. We tag along, participate and get a warm feeling deep down inside.
While this story is aimed at children by the publishers, and is about childhood, it is very accessible to all ages just as the 'Anne of Green Gables' books are.
Christmas is coming. Think about adding this and its two companions, 'Little Guy' and 'Joan's Summer' to your family bookshelves. In fact, don't leave home without them!