Heather “O’Neill’s writing voice is instantly recognizable,” says Deborah Dundas for the Toronto Star. “It’s magical and playful and, because of that, is a foil to the darker elements of the story, reinforcing the tension. It also gives her work a fairy-tale-like quality.”

Heather comes from a family of storytellers, with deep roots in Montreal. Her 2006 debut novel, Lullabies for Little Criminals, landed her a spot on the Governor General’s Literary Award shortlist and won Canada Reads 2007. She went on to become the Giller Prize’s first back-to-back finalist with her novel, The Girl Who Was Saturday Night (2014), and her short story collection, Daydreams of Angels (2015). Heather’s most recent bestselling novel, The Lonely Hearts Hotel, won the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction and was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and CBC’s Canada Reads.

Heather’s latest novel, When We Lost Our Heads released last year, but never one to rest on her laurels, she comes to us this year with a new experiment. With Mystery in the Metro, Heather offers the reader a novel in serial form, which is being published weekly in the Montreal Gazette over the course of 30 weeks. Inspired by her love of the serial novel form popularized by Dickens. “Tis how writers of yore used to publish novels,” she says, “and I am curious to try. “Born and raised in Montreal, O’Neill lives there with her daughter.

Heather is sponsored by an Anonymous Author Patron

Appearing in: 1. Hot Off the Press