About Leigh

Leigh Bridger is actually Deborah Smith, the New York Times bestselling author of A Place to Call Home, Sweet Hush, The Crossroads Café, A Gentle Rain and other acclaimed romantic novels portraying life and love in the modern Appalachian South.  A native Georgian, Deborah is a former newspaper editor who turned to novel-writing with great success.

With more than 35 romance, women's fiction and fantasy novels to her credit, Deborah's books have sold over 3 million copies worldwide. Among her honors is a Lifetime Achievement Award from Romantic Times Magazine and a nomination for the prestigious Townsend Literary Award.  In 2003 Disney optioned Sweet Hush for film. In 2008 A Gentle Rain was a finalist in Romance Writers of America's RITA awards.

For the past nine years Deborah has been a partner in BelleBooks, a small press known for southern fiction, including the Mossy Creek Hometown Series and the Sweet Tea story collections. As editor, she has worked on projects as diverse as the nonfiction Bra Talk book by three-time Oprah Winfrey guest Susan Nethero, and the In My Dreams novella by New York Times bestselling author Sarah Addison Allen.

In 2008 BelleBooks launched Bell Bridge Books, an imprint with a focus on fantasy novels. Deborah produces book trailers for the Bell Bridge and BelleBooks titles, creates the company's podcasts, and also narrates and produces audiobooks for BelleBooks Audio.  

In 2009 Deborah will launch a new professional persona as Leigh Bridger, a pen name for her edgy urban fantasy novels.    

She lives on a secluded dirt road high in the mountains of north Georgia with Hank, her husband of many years, plus a herd of deer, a flock of turkeys, numerous well-fed raccoons, possums and the occasional bear, also eight cats, a dog and more than one-hundred pond-raised goldfish.