Cathy Marie Buchanan

Buchanan was born in 1964 and grew up in Niagara Falls, Ontario, one of five children including three sisters.{{cite web|url=https://www.todaysparent.com/family/cathy-marie-buchanan-motherhood/|title=Cathy Marie Buchanan on motherhood|publisher=Today's Parent|date=27 June 2013|access-date=12 March 2024|first=Cathy Marie|last=Buchanan|archive-date=12 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312133318/https://www.todaysparent.com/family/cathy-marie-buchanan-motherhood/|url-status=live}} She studied ballet throughout secondary school. She holds a BSc (Honours Biochemistry) and an MBA from Western University.{{Cite web |title=Bio – Cathy Marie Buchanan |url=https://www.cathymariebuchanan.com/bio/ |access-date=2024-03-11 |language=en-US |archive-date=2024-03-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240311214750/https://www.cathymariebuchanan.com/bio/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web|url=https://nationalpost.com/entertainment/books/barre-all-cathy-marie-buchanan-brings-degas-infamous-sculpture-to-life-in-her-highly-anticipated-novel-the-painted-girls|work=National Post|title=Barre all: Cathy Marie Buchanan brings Degas' sculpture to life in The Painted Girls|first=Mark|last=Medley|date=16 January 2013|access-date=12 March 2024}}

Buchanan worked for IBM, coming to writing relatively late in life.

The Day the Falls Stood Still, Buchanan's debut novel, was published in 2009. Inspired by the life of Niagara riverman, William "Red" Hill, the novel chronicles early hydroelectric development on the Niagara River. Quill & Quire called it "entertaining" but "overly theatrical",{{cite web|url=https://quillandquire.com/review/the-day-the-falls-stood-still/|title=The Day the Falls Stood Still|publisher=Quill & Quire|first=Caroline|last=Skelton|date=September 2009|access-date=12 March 2024|archive-date=12 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312085116/https://quillandquire.com/review/the-day-the-falls-stood-still/|url-status=live}} while Kirkus Reviews said Buchanan's prose was "elegant", but limited by "sentimentality".{{cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/cathy-marie-buchanan/the-day-the-falls-stood-still/|publisher=Kirkus Reviews|title=The Day The Falls Stood Still|date=19 May 2010|access-date=12 March 2024|archive-date=12 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312084254/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/cathy-marie-buchanan/the-day-the-falls-stood-still/|url-status=live}} Globe and Mail reviewer Judith Fitzgerald said "Few first novels exhibit the mastery, maturity and majesty of Buchanan's riveting fictional debut."{{cite web|publisher=Globe and Mail|first=Judith|last=Fitzgerald|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/review-the-day-the-falls-stood-still-by-cathy-marie-buchanan/article1347737/|title=Review: The Day the Falls Stood Still, by Cathy Marie Buchanan|date=30 November 2009|access-date=12 March 2024|archive-date=12 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312085116/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/review-the-day-the-falls-stood-still-by-cathy-marie-buchanan/article1347737/|url-status=live}}

The Painted Girls, her second novel, was published in 2013. The Painted Girls is set in belle époque Paris and was inspired by the real-life model, Marie van Goethem, for Edgar Degas's c. 1880 statue Little Dancer of Fourteen Years and a notorious criminal trial of the era.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/new-cathy-marie-buchanan-novel-captures-life-in-belle-epoque-paris/article7215012/|title=New Cathy Marie Buchanan novel captures life in belle époque Paris|newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=January 11, 2013|via=www.theglobeandmail.com|access-date=March 27, 2024|archive-date=March 11, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240311214403/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/new-cathy-marie-buchanan-novel-captures-life-in-belle-epoque-paris/article7215012/|url-status=live}}{{Cite news |date=2023-05-18 |title=Book review:'The Painted Girls,' by Cathy Marie Buchanan |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/book-reviewthe-painted-girls-by-cathy-marie-buchanan/2013/01/21/364c5b04-5f35-11e2-9940-6fc488f3fecd_story.html |access-date=2024-03-12 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286 |archive-date=2023-06-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607235354/https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/book-reviewthe-painted-girls-by-cathy-marie-buchanan/2013/01/21/364c5b04-5f35-11e2-9940-6fc488f3fecd_story.html |url-status=live }} Kirkus Reviews called it a "must-read", noting Buchanan's "masterful job" of weaving historical figures into the plot and her "moving yet unsentimental portrait" of familial love,{{cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/cathy-marie-buchanan/painted-girls/|publisher=Kirkus Reviews|title=The Painted Girls|date=10 January 2013|access-date=12 March 2024|archive-date=9 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180909112807/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/cathy-marie-buchanan/painted-girls/|url-status=live}} and The Washington Post's reviewer Susan Vreeland called it a "captivating story of fate, tarnished ambition and the ultimate triumph of sister-love."{{cite news|newspaper=The Washington Post|title=Book review:'The Painted Girls,' by Cathy Marie Buchanan|first=Susan|last=Vreeland|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/book-reviewthe-painted-girls-by-cathy-marie-buchanan/2013/01/21/364c5b04-5f35-11e2-9940-6fc488f3fecd_story.html|date=21 January 2013|access-date=12 March 2024|archive-date=7 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607235354/https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/book-reviewthe-painted-girls-by-cathy-marie-buchanan/2013/01/21/364c5b04-5f35-11e2-9940-6fc488f3fecd_story.html|url-status=live}} The book was selected by Ontario Library Association patrons as winner of the Forest of Reading Evergreen Award in 2014.{{cite web|url=https://accesscopyright.ca/media/news/cathy-marie-buchanan-wins-the-2014-forest-of-reading-evergreen-award/|title=Cathy Marie Buchanan wins the 2014 Forest of Reading Evergreen Award|date=17 November 2014|publisher=Access Copyright|access-date=12 March 2024|archive-date=12 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312085945/https://accesscopyright.ca/media/news/cathy-marie-buchanan-wins-the-2014-forest-of-reading-evergreen-award/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.thebpc.ca/winner-2014-forest-reading-evergreen-award-announced/|title=Winner of 2014 Forest of Reading Evergreen Award Announced|publisher=Book and Periodical Council of Canada|date=8 November 2014|access-date=12 March 2024|archive-date=12 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312085946/https://www.thebpc.ca/winner-2014-forest-reading-evergreen-award-announced/|url-status=live}} Good Housekeeping magazine listed it as one of their "Best Novels 2013".{{cite web|url=https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/g837/best-books-2013/?slide=9|work=Good Housekeeping|title=Best Reads of 2013: The Books We Loved This Year|date=26 November 2013|access-date=12 March 2024|archive-date=12 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312135158/https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/g837/best-books-2013/?slide=9|url-status=live}}

Buchanan's 2020 historical fiction novel, Daughter of Black Lake is a coming of age story set in the boglands of Iron Age Britain.{{cite web|url=https://parade.com/1083869/meganoneill/historical-fiction-fall-2020/|publisher=Parade|title=Fall's Best New Historical Fiction Books, According to the Women Who Wrote Them|first=Megan|last=O'Neill Belle|date=8 September 2020|access-date=12 March 2024|archive-date=11 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240311214201/https://parade.com/1083869/meganoneill/historical-fiction-fall-2020/|url-status=live}} Publishers Weekly said it was "thoughtful, inventive historical fiction",{{cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780735216167|title=Daughter of Black Lake|publisher=Publishers Weekly|access-date=12 March 2024|archive-date=11 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240311214157/https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780735216167|url-status=live}} however Kirkus Reviews called it "unremarkable", devoting "many, many pages to worldbuilding, at the expense of advancing the narrative."{{cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/cathy-marie-buchanan/daughter-of-black-lake/|title=Daughter of Black Lake|publisher=Kirkus Reviews|date=6 October 2020|access-date=12 March 2024|archive-date=12 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240312084253/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/cathy-marie-buchanan/daughter-of-black-lake/|url-status=live}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.cathymariebuchanan.com Official website]

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Category:21st-century Canadian novelists

Category:Canadian women novelists

Category:Living people

Category:People from Niagara Falls, Ontario

Category:21st-century Canadian women writers

Category:1964 births

Category:Novelists from Ontario