Buffalo author releases latest novel

Heather Tierney, a talented local author and educator at Buffalo High School, has recently released her latest novel, “If The Train Arrives.” 

Tierney grew up in Wisconsin and moved to Buffalo several years ago. “The Midwest is absolutely influential to my writing. The publisher phrases the book as, ‘A Love Story to the Midwest.’ I like that idea. I tried to create a setting that felt alive, as if it were a character itself.”

With “If The Train Arrives,” Tierney brings readers into a world where the quiet complexities of life intertwine, inviting readers on a journey that is as introspective as it is unforgettable.  

About the Book

A neurodivergent ticket agent struggling with his ended marriage, a willful teenager searching for truth about her past, and a teacher harboring a painful regret: each passes through the Wisconsin train station one Friday in 1970. Their encounters, seemingly serendipitous, are anything but accidental - yet none of them realize how the course of their lives have been determined by the others.   

For years, the depot has offered Lincoln an escape from his troubled past. But now, with the train line left in question - and in an era when disorders like his are often left undiagnosed - Lincoln must search for new ways to understand who he is.

Rose, his fierce and faithful mother, has orchestrated her son’s life for years. In her close inner circle is the secretary who helped uncover devastating corruption at their psychology office. Now, the exposing of long-hidden secrets means facing life-changing choices - some steeped in regret.  

Both somber and uplifting, unsettling and still, the healing of Lincoln and those he encounters builds in pace like the train at the heart of the story - and arrives at the destination of a gut-wrenching dilemma: How do we make peace with time?

Inspiration 

“Inspiration came from eating breakfast at an old train depot in Wisconsin that had been converted to a restaurant. It had the original floors - all scuffed and worn - and I wondered about the passengers who had traveled through it for so many years. I said to the person I was having breakfast with, imagine all the stories of people coming and going through here. I wonder what they were. So, that began it all. That actually inspired a line on the first page of the novel: The floors warp with their knowledge.”

Writing Process

“Writing is something I’ve wanted to do for as long as I can remember. When I was nine years old, I sent a packet of poems to a publisher. They were returned, of course, but with a nice note. I’ve always been interested in stories and have been a story writer since I learned to write as a child. What I’ve learned over the years is that it takes immense practice, like most things. I learned that if you are writing for publication, everything must be created for the reader - with consideration of what the reader will think or feel the moment they are on that page.”

When I begin, I have an idea about the final scene in the book. Then, I start from the beginning and work my way there. I don’t outline, but have ideas written down everywhere: on scrap paper, on my phone, on whatever I can find at the moment the idea occurs. The book is not written in order, and I organize it when I’m closing in on it. Then I edit for about a year when I have time. Writing is my hobby, but it’s not my only hobby. I love sports and the outdoors. So, putting a book together takes me a while.”

Discover the Author’s work

To support a local bookseller, visit and order at Buffalo Books and Coffee. The book is also available at: www.ifthetrainarrives.com, and through Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Tierney’s first book “The Freedom of a Tangled Vine,” is also available on Amazon.