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WHAT AUTHORS ARE SAYING:

“Snow in July, Heather Barbieri’s searing debut, is the story of a determined mother and her two daughters, devoted Erin and wayward Meghan, a charming and irresistible addict with two innocent children. Erin needs all her strength to practice tough love—a path that turns out to be very tough indeed. In Barbieri’s wise and writerly hands, we can see all our own beloved mistakes and why we made them.”

--Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of The Deep End of the Ocean

--Binnie Kirshenbaum, author of An Almost Perfect Moment

“Heather Barbieri has crafted a beautiful coming-of-age novel set among the abandoned mines of Butte, Montana. Snow in July is a step into the dark underpinning cosmos of small town America, where love is the only Band-Aid for a broken world.”

--Michael Hornburg, author of Downers Grove and Bongwater

“Snow in July is one of those poignant chronicles about the power of family: to fight, to lie, to deceive, to struggle, sass off, detest, deny, and inflict chaos. And ultimately it is also a novel about the power families derive and bestow when they learn to forgive. An eloquent debut novel.”

--Laura Kalpakian, author of The Memoir Club and Educating Waverly

“The complicated love between sisters is vividly explored in Heather Barbieri’s debut novel, Snow in July. Set against the wide-open space of Montana, worlds collide as the complexities of family love are tested and heart-wrenching decisions must be made. An affecting story about courage and conviction, of having to let go in order to find your way back again.”

--Gail Tsukiyama, author of Dreaming Water

WHAT CRITICS ARE SAYING:

"This fiction debut delves into a love-hate sibling relationship between a heroin addict and a good girl bent on saving her sister. Their story answers the question of how to forgive the people who hurt you most."

--Glamour

"Erin's voyage to discovery is a fulfilling one that surprised me with its raw immediacy. It's not often an author writes a totally confident first novel. Sometimes even the most talented young writers find themselves stammering over phrasing or plot, but Snow in July is never self-conscious, always strong and emotional. The issues that the Mulcahy family deals with are real, and the choices they make are difficult . . . . an interesting story told well."

--The Palm Beach Post

"heart-wrenching, poetic. . . . each metaphor, each simile a thorough, microcosmic representation of the beautiful story [Barbieri] tells in her own unique voice."

--Spero News

"good-hearted . . . . Barbieri's insights into family dynamics are solid and true."

--The Washington Post

"Barbieri entertains with a coming-of-age story . . . .The novel moves swiftly and Barbieri has a knack of describing sisterly bonds. The story of diametrically opposed sisters, drug addiction, and family ties will strongly affect teens."

--Booklist

"Barbieri handles the complex sibling relationship with finesse."

--Kirkus

"Reminiscent of Mona Simpson's novels . . . . A thoughtful and thought-provoking study of family afflictions."

--January Magazine

"Barbieri's story has a feeling of the truth and texture of both parental devotion and addiction, set in a small town where the characters have only each other for succor."

--Select Fiction

"Entertaining and . . . engaging"

--The Seattle Times

"a powerful debut"

--The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"a well-crafted . . . astutely told story of human relationships"

--The Tacoma Tribune

"The mining industry and its aftermath function effectively as history and as metaphor in this novel about sisters who must excavate their family's past while they struggle to imagine the future."

--The Oregonian

"Barbieri evokes Butte's scarred landscape with the familiarity of a Montana native . . . a talented writer. It will be interesting to follow her career."

--The Bookmonger

"There is so much in Snow in July to admire . . . .Heather Barbieri's second novel will be very good indeed."

--The Salt Lake Tribune