Summer Island

Behind the Book

Summer Island was the first of my hardcover novels to incorporate humor into the mix. It also was the first book where I tried my hand at a bit of writing in the first person voice. Both of these elements have become more important to me over time. While not all of my books have that “laugh out loud and cry hard” combination, I have to say that my favorite ones do, and Summer Island is a good example of my dramedy writing. Most of the humor can be traced to one of my heroines—Ruby. She’s a hard talking, not so successful stand-up comedienne who blames her mother for all the bad things in her life. So, when the two of them move in together, there was room for lots of laughter and tears and anger. My favorite mother/daughter conflict. This novel also jumpstarted what would prove to be a recurring theme in my work: the different way events are remembered and how those disparate memories impact a family.