Lowry's first novel, A Summer to Die (1977), is about the relationship between two adolescent sisters, Meg and Molly, and the effect that Molly's death, as a result of leukemia, has on the family. Lowry based the relationship between Meg and Molly on her own memories of her relationship with her older sister, Helen, as they were growing up, and on the feelings and emotions that she felt when Helen died of cancer. Lowry experienced other heartaches, as well. Grey, her oldest son and a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force, was killed in a plane crash. In addition, Lowry has a daughter who became disabled as a result of a disease involving the central nervous system. Her daughter's disability has reinforced Lowry's belief that people are "connected" despite their physical differences.
In 1977, Lowry and her husband divorced, and Lowry remained in Maine for the next two years, continuing to write. After completing another serious novel, Find a Stranger, Say Goodbye (1978), Lowry moved to Boston. Because she had been writing about serious and sad issues, she decided to write a humorous short story about a ten-year-old girl named Anastasia Krupnik. Anastasia is a gangly girl who wears glasses, has messy blonde hair, and is always getting into mischief. Lowry liked Anastasia and her family so much that the short story became the first chapter of her novel Anastasia Krupnik (1979), the first in a series of novels about Anastasia.
Lowry divides her time between her house in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and her nineteenth-century farmhouse in New Hampshire. When she isn't at her desk writing, she likes to garden, cook, and knit. She enjoys reading memoirs and biographies, taking exotic, adventurous trips, and going to as many movies as possible. She writes for about five hours each day, working on more than one project at a time. Although her novels cover a variety of topics and range in tone from serious to humorous, they share many of the same themes: individuality, freedom, and the importance of memory. Through her writing, Lowry communicates the message that people must be aware that everything they do affects other people, the environment, and the world.
