Eagle, Kathleen 1947–

(Kathleen Pierson Eagle)

PERSONAL:

Born November 8, 1947, in Fredericksburg, VA; daughter of Sidney Daniel (in the U.S. Air Force) and Mary Virginia Pierson; married Clyde Spencer Eagle (a teacher), October 10, 1970; children: David Spencer, Elizabeth Marie, and Christopher Daniel. Education: Mount Holyoke College, B.A., 1970; North State College, Aberdeen, SD, M.S., 1982. Religion: Episcopalian.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Minneapolis, MN. E-mail—KatEagle@aol.com.

CAREER:

Romance novelist and educator. Fort Yates School District, ND, teacher, 1970-87; writer, 1984—; Minneapolis Star Tribune, reviewer.

MEMBER:

North Dakota Council of Teachers of English (president, 1985-87), North Dakota Department of Education Curriculum Council (secretary, 1985-86), Romance Writers of America (national conference keynote speaker, 1993; adviser to board of directors, 1995-96), Novelists, Inc., Midwest Fiction Writers.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Golden Heart Award, Romance Writers of America (RWA), 1983; Golden Heart Award, RWA, 1984, for Someday Soon; Lifetime Achievement Award, 1989, Romantic Times Magazine; RITA Award, RWA, 1993, for This Time Forever; Midwest Fiction Writer of the Year, RWA, 1995; Write Touch Readers Award, for Reason to Believe, 1996; Achievement Award for Contemporary Novel, Romantic Times, 1998, for The Last True Cowboy.

WRITINGS:

ROMANCE NOVELS; "SILHOUETTE SPECIAL EDITION"

Someday Soon, Silhouette (New York, NY), 1984.

A Class Act, Silhouette (New York, NY), 1985.

Georgia Nights, Silhouette (New York, NY), 1986.

Something Worth Keeping, Silhouette (New York, NY), 1987.

Candles in the Night, Silhouette (New York, NY), 1988.

'Til There Was You, Silhouette (New York, NY), 1990.

Broomstick Cowboy, Silhouette (New York, NY), 1993.

ROMANCE NOVELS; "SILHOUETTE INTIMATE MOMENTS"

For Old Times' Sake, Silhouette (New York, NY), 1986.

More Than a Miracle, Silhouette (New York, NY), 1988.

But That Was Yesterday, Silhouette (New York, NY), 1988.

Bad Moon Rising, Silhouette (New York, NY), 1991.

To Each His Own, Silhouette (New York, NY), 1992.

Black Tree Moon: American Hero, Silhouette (New York, NY), 1992.

Diamond Willow, Silhouette (New York, NY), 1993.

Defender, Silhouette (New York, NY), 1994.

ROMANCE NOVELS; OTHER

Carved in Stone ("Western Lovers" series), Silhouette (New York, NY), 1987.

Private Treaty ("Harlequin Historical" series), Harlequin (New York, NY), 1988.

Medicine Woman ("Harlequin Historical" series), Harlequin (New York, NY), 1989.

Paintbox Morning, Harlequin (New York, NY), 1989.

Heat Lightning, Pageant Books (New York, NY), 1989.

Heaven and Earth ("Harlequin Historical" series), Harlequin (New York, NY), 1990.

This Time Forever, Avon (New York, NY), 1992.

Fire and Rain, Avon (New York, NY), 1994.

Reason to Believe, Avon (New York, NY), 1995.

A Class Act: North Dakota ("Men Made in America"), Harlequin (New York, NY), 1995.

Surrender!, Harlequin (New York, NY), 1995.

(With Bronwyn Williams) Dream Catchers (by Request), Harlequin (New York, NY), 1996.

Sunrise Song, Avon (New York, NY), 1996.

The Night Remembers, Avon (New York, NY), 1997.

(With Kasey Michaels and Emilie Richards) A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Delivery Room, Harlequin (New York, NY), 1997.

(With Mary Lynn Baxter and Marie Ferrarella) For the Baby's Sake, Harlequin (New York, NY), 1997.

The Last True Cowboy, Avon (New York, NY), 1998.

What the Heart Knows, Avon (New York, NY), 1999.

The Last Good Man, Morrow (New York, NY), 2000.

You Never Can Tell, Morrow (New York, NY), 2001.

Once upon a Wedding, Morrow (New York, NY), 2002.

It Must Have Been Love, Morrow (New York, NY), 2002.

Ride a Painted Pony, Mira (Dons Mills, Ontario, Canada), 2002.

(With Madeline Baker and Ruth Wind) Lakota Legacy, Silhouette Books (New York, NY), 2003.

Night Falls Like Silk, William Morrow (New York, NY), 2003.

A View of the River, Mira (Don Mills, Ontario, Canada), 2005.

Also author of Mistletoe Marriages, Friends, Families, Lovers, A Mother's Gift, and The Father Factor,. Contributor to anthologies, including Silhouette Christmas Stories 1988, Silhouette Summer Sizzlers 1991, and Summer Sizzlers: Men of Summer 1996.

SIDELIGHTS:

Kathleen Eagle is a prolific American romance novelist whose books have consistently appeared on regional and national best-seller lists since her debut novel was published in 1984. In fact, Eagle has won many of her genre's most important literary prizes, beginning with the Romance Writers of America's Golden Heart Award for her first novel, Someday Soon. The many other awards she has won include a Lifetime Achievement Award from Romantic Times Magazine and the Romantic Writers of America's prestigious RITA for her 1992 novel This Time Forever. Although many of her earlier novels were paperbacks published by Harlequin, many of her later efforts have been published in hardcover editions, including The Night Remembers, The Last Good Man, and You Never Can Tell. The success of her novels eventually led Eagle to give up her teaching job in order to write full-time.

As a child, Eagle moved from one place to another frequently, because her father was in the U.S. Air Force. After graduating from Mount Holyoke College in 1970, she began her professional career as a teacher on an Indian reservation in North Dakota. Around this time she met and married Clyde Spencer Eagle, a Native American of Lakota Sioux ancestry who was also a teacher. She began taking graduate courses at North State College in Aberdeen, South Dakota, graduating in 1982. As she explained in an interview on the Amazon.com Web site, it was around this time that she began to write her first book. "I was teaching high school English on Standing Rock Indian Reservation. I'd just finished getting my master's degree, and I decided to write a story for fun one summer," she said. "I didn't intend to become a novelist, but I'd dreamed of it when I was young enough to have such outlandish dreams."

Her relationship with her husband and her experiences while teaching on the reservation have helped Eagle understand the issues affecting Native Americans, both historically and in modern times. Many of her books use this firsthand knowledge and offer intimate glimpses of life on an Indian reservation. In fact, literary critics often point to her ability to portray these issues as strong points in her writing. For example, in her 1999 novel What the Heart Knows, Eagle examines the issue of gaming casinos on Indian reservations and the negative impact of legalized gambling on many Native American communities. Even when Eagle has written about something other than Native American life, she has still tackled serious issues, such as in The Last True Cowboy, in which she focuses on the greedy practices of corporate land development in the West. Critic Grace Lee, who reviewed the book for Booklist, called it "a compelling conflict between traditional love of the land and crass money-making."

Eagle once again drew inspiration from her husband's Native-American heritage for the book You Never Can Tell, which follows the movements of Heather Reardon, an investigative journalist on the trail of an outlaw in hiding. The outlaw, Kole Kills Crow, reluctantly agrees to be the focus of her story. Lezlie Patterson, writing for Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service called it an "almost decent book," but felt that Eagle "took too much space to promote her cause, which left too little for romance."

Three generations of women reuniting for a big wedding, ex-husbands, and lustful young people form the basis of a sparkling romance in Once upon a Wedding. Patty Engelmann, writing in Booklist, called it a "sweet story about friendship, family, and the surprising changes weddings can put in motion." A Publishers Weekly reviewer commented: "The wedding preparation details are frosting on the cake."

Despite the attention she gives to serious issues, Eagle is a romance writer at heart, and all her works center on romantic themes. In the Amazon.com Web site interview, Eagle explained her primary concern when beginning a new book: "I always set out to write a book I'll enjoy reading myself. I write primarily to entertain." According to many critics, Eagle has succeeded in achieving this goal. Kristen Ramsdell, who has reviewed a number of Eagle's books for Library Journal, called her "a highly regarded writer of emotionally involving romances."

Eagle's books frequently reflect her interest in and knowledge about horses. In one of her earlier books, Something Worth Keeping, she featured a rugged hero named Cord O'Brien, a rancher who is trying to capture a high-quality mustang stallion in the hopes of riding him to win the Rocky Top Endurance Race, a prestigious competition designed to test the speed and endurance. Cord becomes romantically involved with Brenna Sinclair, the woman who has inherited the land on which he operates his ranch. She is also a horse trainer, so she and Cord have much in common. The story follows their relationship as well as Brenna's troubled one with her father, Hank. It is an "excellent story," wrote Sue Klock in a review for the Romance Reader Web site.

Sunrise Song takes on some painful issues related to Native American life. The story concerns Zane Lone Bull, a one-time activist for Native American rights who is now disillusioned and isolated. He meets Michelle Benedict, a teacher, when she comes to investigate a horrific insane asylum for Indians that was run by her uncle during the 1930s. Inmates there were regularly tortured and otherwise abused. Zane learns that his own family has ties to the place as well. The story of Zane and Michelle is alternated with a narrative concerning events at the asylum during its grim heyday. Reviewing the book for the Romantic Times Online Web site, M. Helfer stated that Eagle writes with "harrowing intensity and transcendent hope. No one writes of the human heart in more compelling terms than this gifted author."

The Night Remembers follows Angela Prescott as she flees an abusive relationship and takes up a life of hard work as a waitress in a run-down diner. She begins a friendship with Tommy T, a homeless youth with a violent lifestyle. Tommy has a sort of guardian angel in Jesse Brown Wolf, a Native American repairman who appears to bail him out of one crisis after another. Native American themes were used again in The Last Good Man, which concerns rancher Clay Keogh and his half-brother, Kole Kills Crow (featured earlier in You Never Can Tell), and their relationship with Savannah Stephens, a fashion model who has had to face a battle with breast cancer.

Horses again provide the foundation of the plot in Ride a Painted Pony, a suspenseful story about a Native American cowboy who, while hauling a load of horses, comes upon a lady in distress. It turns out that she is a jockey, on the run and determined to find her son. In Night Falls Like Silk, Eagle continues the story of Tommy T, the homeless youth from The Night Remembers. Now a successful graphic novelist of about thirty years old, Tommy T meets up with Cassandra Westbrook when they compete in bidding for a portfolio of Native American drawings. Before long Tommy is giving mentoring support to Cassandra's nephew Aaron. Reviewing this novel for Booklist, Michele Leber commented: "Eagle explores problematic family relationships and gives a nod to some contemporary social issues, but she writes primarily to entertain, an aim she achieves here."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, June 1, 1997, Kathleen Hughes, review of The Night Remembers, p. 1655; April 1, 1998, Grace Lee, review of The Last True Cowboy, p. 1303; July, 1999, Alexandra Baker Shrake, review of What the Heart Knows, p. 1929; July, 2000, Patty Engelmann, review of The Last Good Man, p. 2015; July, 2001, Patty Engelmann, review of You Never Can Tell, p. 1990; June 1, 2002, Patty Engelmann, review of Once upon a Wedding, p. 1694; October 15, 2003, Michele Leber, review of Night Falls Like Silk, p. 388.

Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 1997, review of The Night Remembers, p. 660.

Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, February 6, 2002, Lezlie Patterson, review of You Never Can Tell, p. K1649.

Library Journal, February 15, 1996, review of Sunrise Song, p. 140; May 15, 1997, Kristin Ramsdell, review of The Night Remembers, p. 66; May 15, 1998, Kristin Ramsdell, review of The Last True Cowboy, p. 75; August, 1999, Kristin Ramsdell, review of What the Heart Knows, p. 68; August, 2000, Kristin Ramsdell, review of The Last Good Man, p. 82; May 15, 2001, Kristin Ramsdell, review of You Never Can Tell, p. 106; December 1, 2006, Kristin Ramsdell, review of Ride a Painted Pony, p. 103; January 1, 2007, Kristin Ramsdell, review of Ride a Painted Pony, p. 50.

Publishers Weekly, May 12, 1997, review of The Night Remembers, p. 60; May 4, 1998, review of The Last True Cowboy, p. 204; May 31, 1999, review of What the Heart Knows, p. 63; July 10, 2000, review of The Last Good Man, p. 44; July 30, 2001, review of You Never Can Tell, p. 60; April 15, 2002, review of You Never Can Tell, p. 47. July 8, 2002, review of Once upon a Wedding, p. 32; September 8, 2003, review of Night Falls Like Silk, p. 54.

ONLINE

Amazon.com,http://www.amazon.com/ (March 16, 2002), "Amazon.com Talks to Kathleen Eagle."

Dear Author …,http://dearauthor.com/ (November 17, 2006), review of Ride a Painted Pony.

Kathleen Eagle Home Page,http://www.kathleeneagle.com (November 16, 2007).

Riding with the Top down,http://ridingwiththetopdown.blogspot.com/ (November 27, 2006), interview with Kathleen Eagle.

Romance Reader,http://www.theromancereader.com/ (November 17, 2007), Sue Klock, review of Something Worth Keeping; Cathy Sova, review of Sunrise Song.

Romantic Times,http://romantictimes.com/ (November 17, 2007), Catherine Witmer, review of A View of the River; Jill M. Smith, review of Night Falls Like Silk and The Last Good Man; M. Helfer, review of Sunrise Song.