[Deathwatch] Harriet Doerr, author, 92

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

`Stones for Ibarra' author Harriet Doerr dead at 92; 
heiress began writing career late in life
Tue Nov 26,12:52 PM ET

PASADENA, California - Harriet Doerr, who launched her literary career
at age 73 with the National Book Award-winning novel "Stones for
Ibarra," has died. She was 92.

Doerr died Sunday at her home in Pasadena of complications from a
broken hip suffered in a fall last month, said her daughter, Martha
Doerr Toppin.

"Stones for Ibarra" won the National Book Award in 1984, and critics
praised Doerr's style and evocative detail.

"I found I'm quite happy working on a sentence for an hour or more,
searching for the right phrase, the right word," she said in an
interview. "I compare it to the work of a stone cutter — chipping away
at the raw material until it's just right, or as right as you can get
it."

It was heavily influenced by the time she and her husband, Albert,
spent in Mexico, where his family had copper mining interests. The book
was later turned into a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie starring Glenn
Close.

"I thought it was one of the most beautiful pieces of writing I'd come
across in a long time," Close said in 1988.

Doerr's second book, "Consider This, Senora," was published in 1993 and
became a best seller. "The Tiger in the Grass," a collection of essays
and short stories, was published in 1995.

Doerr was born in Pasadena in 1910, the granddaughter of railroad
tycoon Henry Edwards Huntington, whose estate now encompasses the
Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens.

In 1930, she dropped out Stanford University to marry Doerr. Nearly 50
years later, she would finish her degree, having taken up classes again
after her husband's death in 1972. Writing classes inspired her and she
began working on "Stones for Ibarra."

Doerr is survived by her daughter. Her son died of cancer in 1995.