Mary M. Barrow

Mary Mills Barrow has been a professional writer her entire career, first as a New York-based editor and as an editor/communications consultant for McKinsey & Co., Inc. an international management-consulting firm in Australia. Later, she was the co-founder of Coolibar, a sun protective clothing company and shortly thereafter created SunAWARE, an anti-skin cancer not-for-profit. She is an award-winning author of several non-fiction and fiction titles about skin cancer prevention and detection.

When writing "Small Moments" Barrow used her research skills and her imagination to bring together the stories of her childhood with Amelia, an African American caregiver, during the early days of the Civil Rights movement.

"Memoir, even creative memoir, is vastly different than writing either fiction or nonfiction. When I wrote 'Small Moments' I wanted my readers to fall in love with my main character, Amelia, but in a way that is far deeper than I would expect with a fictional character. If my readers fall in love with Amelia, they fall in love with someone who has changed lives.

My understanding of Amelia's life and of events during my childhood did not become clear until I was able to place them in the context of history. I had to separate myself from my day-to-day memories of a woman who worked as a maid and caregiver for my family and place her life story within the turbulence of the era. Once I understood that the events of her life stood in profound contrast to the hopes of the Civil Rights Movement, I was able to clearly see why and how she affected me.

Amelia has appeared as a character in some of my earlier manuscripts. Her personality was unlike any I've ever known. If readers fall in love with her, I've fulfilled the promise I made at her graveside and she will be remembered."

Mary M. Barrow was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1953. She moved with her family to New Jersey in 1959, graduated from Princeton Day School in 1972 and George Washington University in 1976. You can contact Mary and view her website at mmbarrowbooks.com