Today, I’m joined by literary legend Robyn Carr.
Robyn is the award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 50 novels, the most recent of which, The Summer That Made Us (MIRA), was published earlier this month. Her previous works include the critically acclaimed Virgin River and Thunder Point series, as well as highly praised women’s fiction titles such as Four Friends, What We Find, and The Life She Wants. Robyn has won a RITA Award from the Romance Writers of America, and in 2016 she was awarded RWA’s Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions to the genre. Her novels have been translated into 19 languages in 30 countries. Robyn and her husband reside in Henderson, Nevada, where she is working with her local library on the Carr Chat Series, a program centered on fundraising and visiting author events that bring writers, their books, and the community together.
Praise for The Summer That Made Us:
“… a blissful beach read”—Kirkus Reviews
“The Summer That Made Us is a stellar work of women’s fiction.”—RedingReality.net
“Carr’s trademark charm and easy writing style is in full effect making the perfect combination for a late summer read.”—NovelGossip.com
From the publisher:
The brand-new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Robyn Carr that Kirkus calls “a blissful beach read.” The Summer That Made Us is an unforgettable story about a family learning to accept the past, to forgive and to love each other again.
That was then…
For the Hempsteads, summers were idyllic. The lake was a magical place, a haven where they were happy and carefree. All of their problems drifted away as the days passed in sun-dappled contentment. Until the summer that changed everything.
This is now…
After an accident turned the lake house into a site of tragedy and grief, it was closed up. None of the Hempstead women speak of what happened, and relationships between them are uneasy at best to hurtful at worst. But in the face of new challenges, one woman is determined to draw her family together again, and the only way that can happen is to return to the lake and face the truth.
Robyn Carr has crafted another beautifully woven story about the complexities of family dynamics and the value of strong female relationships.
Now, Robyn Carr reveals a few pages from the book of her life …
John Valeri: As a child, did you wear your literary lust loud and proud or were you a closet bibliophile?
Robyn Carr: I wasn’t a huge reader as a child, though I did love those days when my grandmother and I walked to the library and checked out books. Even though I wasn’t an addictive reader, those tall packed shelves gave me such a thrill. I always brought home a stack of books.
JV: What book(s) were you likely to be caught keeping company with under the covers?
RC: Oh, as I got older, the occasional very popular book would get my attention – usually if it was forbidden. I remember secretly reading Peyton Place when I was a teenager and that book had me so steamed up I nearly melted. I reread it as an adult and someone must have gone in and taken all the steamy parts out – it’s so tame compared to the stuff we have today. I remember in college when I lived with nursing students in a dorm, we frantically passed around Love Story, grabbing it in turn with fabulous expectation then bawling our eyes out.
JV: What are you reading currently and what is your initial impression?
RC: I just picked up The Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly and I haven’t read much but it grabbed me right off. I see from the reviews it’s going to be “unputdownable,” as I like to say!
JV: What one book do you always recommend when asked?
RC: The Shell Seekers by Rosamund Pilcher. Also, The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy is a very important book.
JV: Which of your own books would you recommend most to readers and why?
RC: For romance, I recommend my Virgin River series if the reader likes that there are about 30 books of the same variety – ongoing romance in a long running series. For stand alone women’s fiction, I especially love either The House on Olive Street or Four Friends.
JV: Is there a book or author that readers would be surprised to know you’ve read and liked?
RC: Given the type of fiction I write, I think people would be surprised to find I got hooked on JR Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood. It’s about vampires and usually I hate vampires – but she’s rewritten the myth and her vampires are the good guys! And I love them.
JV: Who is the one author that would, or did, make you weak in the knees upon meeting?
RC: Alice Walker! It’s been over 25 years since I met her, but I wanted to tell her how much her writing had influenced me, how much I had admired her work, I had all kinds of thing to say. And what did I say? I burst into tears and said, “I love you so much!”
JV: Has there been an “I’ve made it” moment in your career?
RC: Tons of them. When I first made the NYT’s list at something like #32, I thought – there! I’ve made it! I can die a happy woman. But then books kept making it. When I made #1, I thought holy cow – now I’ve made it for sure. But then I made #1 a total of 11 times. More recently I was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by Romance Writers of America and that still blows my mind.
JV: What is your greatest literary ambition?
RC: I guess to make #1 on the NYT’s hardcover fiction list, talk about a dream. But really, I find writing so satisfying, if I’m just blessed to be able to do that for years to come, it will be a life very well spent!
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With thanks to Robyn Carr for her generosity of time and thought and to Claire McLaughlin of Little Bird Publicity for continually working her bookish magic.
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