Buy Now:

Pre-order the U.S. Edition Now:

Talk to Ann!

Have a question or comment about the book? Click here to share it with us. We just may post your question/comment -- and Ann's response -- on the site!

English | Français

About Ann

Author Photograph by Christine Meeker

Ann Weisgarber, born and raised in Kettering, Ohio, has been fascinated by the gritty spirit of pioneer homesteaders ever since her first childhood trip to the American West. After graduating from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, she was a social worker in a psychiatric hospital before moving to Houston, Texas, with her husband, Rob. She earned a Master of Arts in Sociology at the University of Houston and taught high school and later, sociology at a junior college.

Inspired by a cookstove in a South Dakota sod dugout and a photograph of an unnamed woman, Ann spent seven years writing The Personal History of Rachel DuPree. She learned the basics of fiction writing by studying Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain and by attending evening writing workshops. She submitted the first chapter of her novel to the National Park Service and received a four-week writing residency at Badlands National Park where she lived in a ranger’s cabin.

Ann has lived in Boston, Massachusetts, and Des Moines, Iowa, but now splits her time between Sugar Land, Texas, and Galveston, Texas. She and her husband are avid hikers and visit at least one national park every year. She is working on her next novel, a story about the 1900 Galveston hurricane.