Friday, January 18, 2019

Jessica Barry

Jessica Barry is a pseudonym for an American author who grew up in a small town in Massachusetts and was raised on a steady diet of library books and PBS.

She attended Boston University, where she majored in English and Art History, before moving to London in 2004 to pursue an MA from University College London.

She lives with her husband, Simon, and their two cats, Roger Livesey and BoJack Horseman.

Barry's new novel is Freefall.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Her reply:
I’m just finishing Beth Macy’s terrific in-depth exploration of the opioid epidemic, Dopesick. I hadn’t read anything by her before but listened to her being interviewed on the Longform podcast and immediately added it to my to-be-read pile. The author was a journalist at the Roanoke Times for many years and uses her experience and community connections to delve into the crisis by focussing on the personal stories of those who have been affected by it. I haven’t lived in America for the past 15 years, during which the epidemic has exploded, and while I’ve been aware of it for several years it was both fascinating and horrifying to read about the severity and scope of the problem – and the fact that there doesn’t appear to be a solution to the problem, or at least not an easy one. Macy’s writing is engaging, humane and filled with empathy, and I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about the disease ravaging the country and the corporate greed that fuelled it.
Learn more about Freefall, and follow Jessica Barry on Twitter.

--Marshal Zeringue