Interview

Luanne Rice describes how summer inspires her to write and talks about two of her recent books, Firefly and Summer Light.

Summer inspires me. It always has. My mother's writing seminars took place at the old oak table in our summer cottage, with salt breezes blowing through the open windows, our friends' voices wafting up the hill from the beach. I learned to not only feel that breeze, but to write about it so someone sitting in a hot city apartment could feel it too. My mother encouraged me to swim, then run back up the stone steps to write about it right away--so the reader far from any sea could feel refreshed.

Those writing habits are with me still. Summer has always been a time for excitement and adventure, even close to home. It's a time to open your heart a little more than the summer before, to see the people around you with new eyes, to fall in love--with someone new or the person who's been sitting beside you all along.

This summer I have two new novels coming out: Firefly Beach (on sale 5/29 in paperback) and Summer Light (on sale 6/26 in hardcover). The titles conjure, for me, heat, love, sand, sea, stars, and family. Both books feature sisters, friends, parents, kids, great dogs, and a bride; their characters live in the same town on the Connecticut shoreline, and some of the characters know each ...