If you missed my review of this book in my post on anticipated books of July and August, I'll repeat it for you here. The protagonist of this novel is a young woman named Eve who works in publishing and then becomes the assistant to a semi-famous writer, and it's set during one summer in 1987 in Manhattan and Cape Cod. The characters all felt like such real people, and there is a strong sense of time and place while at the same time the book feels very timeless, like the story could happen today too. There's also a lot of discussion of writing, reading, and books, which gives the book a pleasantly intellectual feel without being pretentious or heavy. So it's light enough to be a perfect summer book, while still just so smart. If you're a fan of smart insightful authors like Curtis Sittenfeld and Meg Wolitzer, I think you would like this too.
And don't just take my word for it - it's also an Amazon Best Book of July, an Indie Next Pick and on O Magazine's Best Beach Read list for 2019, among others.
And, I'm super-excited to bring you a Q&A with the author - no spoilers, so you can safely read this interview even if you haven't read the book yet.
What inspired you to write The Last Book Party? Is it semi-autobiographical?
The novel grew from a piece of memoir writing I did about a friend who died. We’d met in Cape Cod in the mid-1980s and had shared a magical day pulling in a lobster pot that had been washed near shore by a storm and I wanted to capture that day in writing. I had joined a writing group at the time and had to return every week with new pages, so I just continued and wrote about that time period, when I was working in book publishing and trying to find my way and figure out if I could be a writer. And one day, a character appeared – Jeremy, the prickly young writer - who was completely fictional. I had no idea what he was doing there, but I just decided to go with it and see what happened. Other than my working in publishing and getting passed over for a promotion, the plot of The Last Book Party is not autobiographical. However, the emotional journey of my protagonist to claim her voice and become a writer is very much mine – it just took me a lot longer than it took her!
A pivotal scene in the book (which presumably inspired the title though I have a crazy notion that the title might also/instead refer to another scene) is the party where everyone has to dress up as a character from a book. Where did you get that idea from? Who would you dress up as if you were going to such a party?
The idea for the book party just popped into my head when I was searching for something for a ritual for this literary crowd that would be a little pretentious and both alluring and intimidating to Eve. I was partly inspired by Daphne Du Maurier’s novel, Rebecca (which I love), which also ends with a costume party with some shattering discoveries. I can’t answer the second part of your question because I hate costume parties! Honestly, they fill me with dread. I’m like Eve – too indecisive and nervous about selecting a costume. As she says, it’s hard enough figuring how to look one’s own best for a party, let alone choosing some alter ego.
One of the many things I loved about the book is that the Cape Cod setting comes so vividly to life. I’ve been to Cape Cod a number of times but never to Truro - are the places you describe all real?
Absolutely! I’ve spent every summer of my life in Truro and it was very important to me to get it right. I’m a stickler about such things – if I’m reading a book and there is some small fact wrong, it pulls me out of the story and makes me mistrust the author. I also really enjoyed writing about this place that I love so much. The Last Book Party is sort of my love letter to Truro.
I know this is your publishing debut, is it also the first book you ever wrote or do you have other drafts of book(s) that never made it to publication?
About nine years ago, I did National Novel Writing Month and technically completed a novel, or at least a pile of pages big enough to be considered a novel. It was a useful thing to do but the end result was a disaster. I printed it out and, feeling very proud of myself, took it to my local library to read. And I literally fell asleep. That is a “novel” that will never see the light of day!
Tell me a little about your career before writing this book, and what inspired you to switch to writing fiction.
I wanted to be a writer since I was a child, but in adolescence I sort of lost my confidence. I had all sorts of writing jobs – as a newspaper and magazine journalist, as a book reviewer and speechwriter at the United Nations, but it wasn’t until I found an amazingly supportive and wonderful writing group about 8 years ago that I finally started really working at fiction. I think I’d been under the misconception that if I were a real writer, it would be easier. And the truth is, writing fiction can be scary and confusing and you have to just accept that and carry on.
Any advice for aspiring writers and/or writers who hope to get published?
Accept that it’s OK, even expected, to write lousy first drafts. And don’t think you have to know exactly what your story is about before you start. I’ve discovered all of my best plot points while writing, not before writing. The first draft is sort of the discovery draft and once I have that done, I go back and really think it out, even outline it, and make sure it all makes sense. Other than that, read, read, read. And then move to Pelham, New York – that’s where I live and where I met the friend who eventually connected me with my literary agent!
What are some of your favorite genres to read or favorite authors?
I’m a very eclectic reader. High-brow, low-brow, contemporary fiction, classics, biographies, whatever intrigues me. I don’t have favorite authors as much as favorite books – Jane Eyre, Middlemarch, War and Peace, Rebecca, Goodbye, Columbus, I Capture the Castle, My Antonia. Among contemporary authors, my favorites are Alice McDermott, Ann Patchett and Colm Toibin. I also really enjoy the detective novels of Anthony Horowitz, who never fails to make me laugh.
Do you prefer reading physical books or e-books? Where do you like to find and obtain books - bookstores, libraries, and/or the Internet?
All of the above! For a long time I hesitated to get a Kindle because I had the crazy idea that I’d be giving up books. And then I realized (duh!) that I could read on a Kindle and still read physical books. So that’s what I do and I sort of have my own internal radar about what’s a Kindle book and what’s worthy of being purchased in hard cover. That said, I adore bookstores and love to spend lots of time exploring them and leaving with something unexpected.
What’s the best book you have read so far this year?
Stalin’s Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva by Rosemary Sullivan. It’s an incredible page-turner and a unique and devastating chronicle of the Soviet era.
Are you working on a second book? Can you tell us anything about it?
I am working on a second novel although I’m taking a little break from it this summer to promote The Last Book Party. It’s still in very early stages, but it’s about marriage and ambivalence and is set in the US and Russia during the year after Trump's election. The backdrop may seem surprising, but I was a Russian Studies major in college, lived and worked in Moscow for six years in the 1990s, and recently returned for my first visit in 21 years. It reignited my passion for the place and I’ve really been enjoying writing about it.
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