Check out our interview with Kerri Maher, the author of "Summer of Love."
What was your inspiration behind your most recent book?
Unlike my previous historical novels, Summer of Love was not inspired by a specific person or group of people. Rather, after a lot of journaling and long walks, several elements began to gel in my mind into a coherent novel: an authentic and nostalgic California setting (it’s my home state!!), a 1960s timeline, a road trip, storytelling, an intense love story with some wrenching turns, a character’s journey to recovery. As you might imagine, it took a while for me to figure out how all of that would work together, and through the alchemy of the creative process finally Winnie, Miranda, and Dawn walked on stage in my imagination, and I knew I had my novel.
What does Reading Rainbow mean to you?
There is a line from the Author’s Note of my last novel All You Have To Do Is Call, “It’s all us here. There is no them,” and it’s basically my reason for reading and writing anything. I want to bring people closer, to understand people better, to celebrate our differences and our common humanity.
Why do you feel representation of a variety of people is so important when it comes to writing books?
It’s through reading, especially through reading novels with satisfying character arcs, that we come to a deeper understanding of, and empathy for, others. And so when we read about people from many backgrounds and with many points of view, our understanding and empathy grows—not just for those characters, but for all difference. Understanding and empathy are like muscles that can be trained to serve us better in all aspects of our lives, not just when our noses are buried in a book. Novels are the gyms in which we build those muscles.
Tell us a little more about the book and why you decided to write it.
My native Californian parents met at UC Berkeley during the 1960s, and so my childhood was full of stories about the Free Speech Movement and the counter-culture revolution in San Francisco; those stories came even more alive for me when I attended Berkeley in the
1990s. Additionally, I grew up (mostly) in Joan Didion country—the agricultural San Joaquin valley—and my affinity for her early writing, especially as a fellow writer who had also defected to New York City right after college, led me to want to write about the real California, which is the sun-kissed marvel we see in popular culture, but also so much more.
I’ve also been sober for more than four years, and recovery from alcohol use has brought me so much peace, perspective, and joy that I wanted to work those themes into a novel as well. Those two pieces, California and recovery, make this my most personal novel to date. It’s not about anyone I know, but it’s informed by everyone I know.
What can fans expect from your book?
Fans who have followed me from my previous novels can expect some familiar themes: rich and complex relationships between characters (siblings, parents and children, friends), characters finding their true calling, an immersive and atmospheric setting, characters doing meaningful creative work, and romantic love that is not the center of a person’s universe alongside hard-won self-love that is.
What's up next for you in the bookish world?
Next I’m diving into the world of antiquarian books, with a magical medieval prayer book that calls together a specific lover pair to work out their karma over 5 centuries. It’s a departure for me in a few ways, and I’m having a great time writing it!
