I’m Claire Amarti – thank you for dropping by! I’m delighted you’re here.

When I’m not writing, I can be found strolling the streets of Brooklyn, New York City, my adopted home, dodging pigeons and traffic. I moved here a little over eight years ago – I hail from Ireland originally – and never looked back. To me there’s nothing more wonderful than that feeling of finding – or making! – a new home, that mixture of excitement and comfort. That’s what reading feels like for me… and for you too I suspect! It’s also the same joy I get from writing. I hope my books can become a kind of home for readers: a place where you can trust that you’ll find an adventure but always come back safe and sound at the end of it all, ready to do it again another day!

Publishing The Silent Daughter was an incredible adventure for me. I’d been writing for years, but like many writers, on and off – with a lot of “off”! I actually work in the publishing industry, which in its way can be pretty intimidating. You see so many good books go through the revolving door. And sadly, too many of them just end up gathering dust. But I had always thought that I would one day submit my latest manuscript to an agent and a traditional publishing house, so no one was more surprised than me when in March 2020 – that’s right, just as Covid-19 was plunging us all into a very scary unknown – I decided to polish up the novel I’d recently completed, take a deep breath, and publish it myself, online.

I’d grown up in an era where “self publishing” was a bit of a dirty word, but the more I read and heard from friends, the more I felt like that viewpoint was changing, and “independent publishing”, as the cool kids say now, was a whole new way of meeting readers and connecting directly to the people that matter. I read everything I could find about the independent publishing world, and it was fascinating! Happily, The Silent Daughter sold really well, and I even had both an agent and publisher express interest in taking things over for The First Wife’s Secret. But it turns out, I kind of like being at the wheel, at least for now! Maybe it’s the control freak in me…

I think the hardest part about it is also the best part: you do everything yourself. And I mean everything! I’ve never been a tech whizz. I’ve never been an advertizing genius. I’d never formatted mirror margins or learned all the different types of book bindings that exist… until I had to learn! It was time-consuming, but so interesting. I think a lot of us aspire to be life-long learners in one way or another – it can be so easy to get stuck in a rut and fall back on old habits. But being pushed to learn something new really blows those cobwebs right away! So for that reason alone I’m grateful for the adventure.

Of course, I wasn’t starting this adventure at an easy time in the world. It felt strange, and sometimes wrong, to be devoting myself to this project – to something that after all was just “entertainment” – as Covid-19 was ravaging communities round the world, and nowhere worse than in New York at the time. I will always remember those weeks of editing as sirens blared past my windows what felt like every few minutes and the streets stayed empty. I felt some guilt and a lot of grief for my city and the world, but I was also very grateful to have a project to lose myself in. It gave me a way to escape, and a way to nourish myself and stay sane during a crazy time. Of course, I was lucky – in an infinite number of ways – that I could have that escape. But I’ve heard a similar feeling expressed by many people since, not just about writing but reading as an escape: during the pandemic, they were so grateful for their books and TV shows, even the silly ones. I’ve learned not to under-value what it means to be able to “take a break” when reality is so challenging. The need for escape is real! And of course, that doesn’t just apply to extreme events. Sometimes life just feels… a little taxing. Sometimes it’s just been a hard day, and who better to cheer you up than a good book!

That said, I hope my books aren’t just about escape, or just about entertainment (although those things are wonderful!). My aim is to write books that are good stories first and foremost, but to me a good story is hopefully one that asks some questions as well as plants a lot of fun twists. I think one of the amazing things fiction gives us is the opportunity to look at outselves and our lives in a new light. Maybe we identify with a character we’ve been reading about, or a situation they’re going through. Maybe they struggle with questions we struggle with too. Are some things “meant to be”? Can one small choice influence the rest of our lives? Is there such a thing as second chances? Oh, the questions! 

Speaking of questions, maybe you have some of your own! I’d love to hear them. I try and respond to every message I get, even if sometimes I’m slow. You can pop on over to the Contact page if you’d like to drop me a line. If you liked what you read, you might consider following me on Amazon here (by clicking “Follow” on the top left) for an automatic notification of new releases. Or join my mailing list! It’s not the spammy kind, I promise 🙂

Thank you so much for visiting my website – I do love to hear from readers, so I hope we cross paths again!