Lee Lowry is a former community activist and political consultant. Like her fictional counterpart, Lowry gave up a successful career in Boston and moved to Europe to help an old love cope with his grief after the loss of his wife to cancer. IF YOU NEEDED ME is the first book of a trilogy inspired by Lowry’s personal experiences as an expatriate, second wife and step-parent. Lowry lived in Switzerland for seven years before retiring with her husband to California in 2008. “We were planning to move back to Massachusetts, but we quickly realized, for reasons of space and physical layout, that my home in Boston was not well suited for a retired couple. Its shortcomings gave us a remarkable opportunity, motivating us to define together the ideal house and ideal community – not his, not mine, but ours. Our respective address books revealed that we knew more people in California than anywhere else in the entire world, so here we are, happy transplants!” When she isn’t writing, Lowry devotes her time to gardening, animal rescue work, and local conservation projects. She is active with several organizations working cooperatively to preserve open space in the Santa Cruz Mountains, safeguarding critical water sources and providing habitat linkages for the area’s unique wildlife. All the proceeds from sales of her book are donated to charitable institutions supporting conservation programs, sustainable farming and native species protection.Read more about this authorRead less about this author