I was born Laurie Adair MacFadden in Madras, Oregon to an artist mother and a father whose job had us moving from town to town in Oregon, Washington, and Montana. My last years living at home with my parents and siblings were in Great Falls, Montana. We’d all been stunned at our first extremely harsh winter in Great Falls, and I didn’t think I could learn to love that place out on the prairie, but it grew on me. I miss it and other parts of the state still, even after many years away, so my first three books are set primarily in Montana. It’s a way for me to be there without really being there!
In 1974 I graduated from Great Falls High School, and the following year I married my high school sweetheart, George, who had joined the USMC. Being a Marine’s wife showed me a kind of life I had never imagined. We met all kinds of people, fell in love with Japan, and, as far as I’m concerned, I learned that summers in Yuma, Arizona are way too hot, and the winters ideal! (Read more about the author)