American · b. 1954
Andrea Barrett writes historical fiction about scientists and the pursuit of knowledge. Her 1996 collection "Ship Fever" won the National Book Award, weaving stories around natural historians, Arctic explorers, and nineteenth-century medical crises. The American author approaches scientific discovery as human drama, finding in laboratories and expeditions the same passions and betrayals that drive conventional fiction. Barrett's research is meticulous; her fiction wears it lightly.