Heather Lewis (writer)

Heather Lewis was born in Bedford, New York. She attended Sarah Lawrence College.^[1][3]

She was the author of three published novels. The first, House Rules (1994), details the experiences of a fifteen-year-old girl working as a show rider of horses—an experience the author herself had in her teenage years.^[1][3] The novel won the 1995 Ferro-Grumley Award for Lesbian Fiction.^[4] Lewis's second novel, The Second Suspect (1998), follows the struggles of a female police investigator trying to prove the guilt of a powerful and influential businessman responsible for the rape and murder of several young women. The third, posthumously published novel, Notice (2004), describes the experiences of a young prostitute, Nina and her involvement with a sadist and his wife.^[3] Lewis' former teacher, Allan Gurganus wrote an afterword for Notice.^[5] The book is essentially a re-writing of The Second Suspect from the point of view of one of the victims.

Lewis was an out lesbian,^[6] and her works explore aspects of American culture, such as the connections between power, drugs, sex, violence, love and justice.^[3]

Lewis taught at the Writer's Voice and contributed to various anthologies of literature including Best Lesbian Erotica (1996, 1997), Once Upon a Time: Erotic Fairy Tales for Women (1996), and A Woman Like That: Lesbian and Bisexual Writers Tell Their Coming Out Stories (1999).^[3] Lewis returned to New York in the fall of 2001, after a year in Arizona. She ended her life in May 2002, in New York.^[3]