Snow in July: a novel

“Heather Barbieri has crafted a beautiful coming-of-age novel set among the abandoned mines of Butte, Montana. Two sisters try climbing a ladder that doesn't exist, and swirl within the landscape that is as pitted as their lives, hoping in the end to just survive the shattered world that has consumed them. 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

All of Erin’s life, her sister has eclipsed her, stolen her boyfriends and commanded the family’s attention with one meteoric crisis or another. Meghan was always smarter, prettier, more daring and dynamic. As a child, she could charm her way out of any situation, usually leaving Erin to shoulder the blame for their various transgressions. But Meghan has been gone for years, and now Erin is anxious to leave Butte behind her, too; to go East to art school, or West to Los Angeles to become a jewelry designer—anywhere, so long as it’s far from Butte, Montana. Then Meghan, a single mother with a six-year-old daughter and an infant, unexpectedly returns, again expecting Erin and their mother to solve her problems. But this time there are other people involved, no easy solution to those problems and no one else to blame.

Meghan is now addicted to men, danger and drugs. She is the world’s “most frequent flier.” Little Teensy and baby Si-Si are lonely and endangered. When Meghan’s attempts to stay clean falter, the responsibility for the children becomes Erin’s. But how much can she be expected to sacrifice for her nieces’ well-being? Can she find fulfillment and happiness, even in Butte?

Heather Barbieri lives with her husband and three young children in Seattle, Washington. Snow in July is her first novel.

Snow in July is as likely as Erin's escaping Montana.

Library Journal

The opening pages of this first novel provide a somewhat clumsy exposition, but by the middle of the first chapter, this gritty story of the love-hate relationship between two sisters in Butte, MT, catches the reader. Drug addict Meghan, 21, is unmarried and has two daughters. Ever since her father's premature death from alcoholism, she's needed to be rescued by her mother and her 18-year-old sibling, Erin. Erin narrates the family's exceptional experiences and perceptions, which make the sisters seem older than their years. Barbieri effectively captures the setting and atmosphere, but the ending, which reduces the complex emotional ties to Erin and her mother's realization that they must deal with Meghan through tough love, seems simplistic. Recommended for larger popular fiction collections.-Elaine Bender, El Camino Coll., Torrance, CA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Heather Barbieri has been published in numerous anthologies including Leftbank Books and Running Deer Press. She was the winner of the Ian St. James International Short Fiction Award; winner of the James W. Hall Fiction Prize; and winner of the Waller Literature Award. She lives with her husband and three young children in Seattle, Washington. Snow in July is her first novel.