June 2008 Archives

My blog of 6’18 referred to An Accidental Woman as a “companion” to Lake News. Does that mean sequel? In my mind, no. I think of a sequel as a book that picks up the same characters where they leave off in an earlier book and tells more of their story. An Accidental Woman does use the same little lake town and does revisit the same characters as in Lake News, but the main characters from the first book become secondary to allow focus on a different group of people.

OK. Maybe I’m arguing semantics here. But I truly don’t see An Accidental Woman as a sequel. Both books stand on their own.

I first conceived of the Lake Henry books as a foursome, each celebrating a different New England season. There would be apple cider making in the fall, maple sugaring in the winter, leafing out in late spring, and tourism in summer. Truthfully, it was a marketing move; readers love revisiting the same places. And hey, I’ve designed and built more towns than you’d ever believe. The idea of not having to create a town from scratch was appealing.

I wrote Lake News in 1998, wrote The Vineyard in 1999, The Woman Next Door in 2000, then, in 2001, wrote An Accidental Woman. I thought it would be easy. Wrong. Although An Accidental Woman focused on Poppy Blake, the handicapped sister of Lake News’s Lily Blake, many of the other characters carried over – and I had to get them right. By “right” I mean keep them consistent with the first book. Their appearance, their interests, even the streets of the town had to be consistent – because if there’s one thing I’ve learned as a writer, it’s that if I make a mistake, you readers pick it up.

Way back, in Coast Road, I referred to a Volkswagen having radiator trouble; an astute reader pointed out that Volkswagens don’t have radiators. More recently, in The Secret Between Us, I referred to Dylan Monroe playing in the ninth inning of his Little League game; a savvy reader reminded me (how could I have forgotten, after sitting through so many of my sons’ games?) that Little League games only have six innings!

By the time I was done writing An Accidental Woman, my copy of Lake News was riddled with so many Post-Its that I didn't know which ones marked what. More importantly, by that time, I was tired of Lake Henry. Creating a town from scratch, with the freedom from accountability that allowed, suddenly didn’t seem so bad!

Many readers have asked if there will be a third or fourth Lake Henry book. Right now, none is on the drawing board. Perhaps you can understand why?

As of Tuesday, June 24, Family Tree is out in mass market paperback. To mark its publication, I’d like to give away the two final knitting kits I have here at my house.

Those of you who have read about Family Tree on my site know that knitting is part of the protagonist’s past, something she loves doing, something that soothes her. The same goes for me. I have always been an avid knitter, which is why our partnering with the Berroco Yarn Company for the Family Tree tour was so exciting. Prior to the book’s original publication, I had the joy of visiting Berroco and working with master designers Margery Winter and Norah Gaughan to create the “Family Tree Knitting Collection,” which consists of patterns that are either knitted by or worn by various characters in the book.

Each of the kits I’m giving way in this contest contains 20 (yes, 20!) balls of Berroco Pure Merino, a pair of gauge-appropriate needles, and the “Family Tree Knitting Collection” pattern book.

What do you have to do to enter the contest? Simply visit CONTACT and send a note asking to be entered in the drawing. The deadline is Labor Day – that’s Monday September 1, so that the winners will receive their kits just as they’re starting to plan their knitting for fall and winter. Not a knitter yourself, but know someone who is? Why not enter to win a kit for them? They’ll love you forever.

What with the cost of gas, it’s getting harder to plan trips. Want a quick escape that won’t use any gas at all? Why not pick up a book and visit a tiny lake town? Lake Henry, of Lake News, is just the one.

What’s so great about tiny lake towns like Lake Henry? Well, for starters, they’re on lakes, which immediately makes them special. They’re picturesque and they’re clean. For another thing, they’re small, caring places where people know each other and notice when something’s wrong. For a third, they’re seasonal, which means that summer brings an influx of visitors, which means income for locals, while the arrival of Labor Day brings a sigh of relief. For a fourth, they have charm.

Charm is one of the first things I think about when I think about Lake News, which recently made its debut in trade paperback. Lake Henry, where this book (and its companion, An Accidental Woman) is set, has that charm. Lake News takes place in the fall and talks about the making of apple cider; An Accidental Woman takes place in late winter and deals with the making of maple syrup. Both are quintessential New Hampshire and have a charm even beyond the characters.

Is there a real-life Lake Henry? Not formally. In my mind, it’s a combination of Squam Lake and Lake Winnipesaukee, right up there in the lakes region of New Hampshire. If you’re one of those readers who are planning a “Barbara Delinsky Tour” of New England, definitely make central New Hampshire one of your stops.

If not New Hampshire, where? Tell me if you’ll be traveling this summer and, if so, where you’re headed.