Q&A with Eliza Knight

  

Photo by Michael Devaney

 

 

Eliza Knight is the author of the new novel Lost in the Summer of '69. Her many other novels include Confessions of a Grammar Queen.  

 

Q: What inspired you to write Lost in the Summer of ‘69?

 

A: There were so many ideas filtering through my head that inspired Lost in the Summer of ’69, and after a walk-and-plot with a writer pal of mine, the pieces started to fall into place.

 

Following my novel Confessions of a Grammar Queen, I knew I wanted to write another book that took place in the ‘60s, so I started to do some exploratory research about what happened in that decade of change.

 

I came across the summer of 1969, which was filled with not only music festivals, but other changes in the country, including the first year Yale allowed women to matriculate. I’ve always been fascinated by women’s stories, mothers and daughters, ways we change and empower each other, and I knew I needed to write a generational story.

 

There’s also a thread of exploring stories together and how reading can spark conversation, so you’ll see that in a number of ways.

 

Every novel I write has a little piece of me in it, and that year, there were some personal things going on in my life as well that sparked inspiration and the need to explore—my father-in-law’s battle with Alzheimer’s and my daughter going off to college. As the ideas snowballed, so too did the urgency to write this story.

 

Q: How would you describe the dynamics among the various generations of women in the novel?

 

A: At the start of the novel the dynamics between mothers and daughters is tense.

 

On the one hand you have Eleanor, the matriarch of the family who is keeping her diagnosis a secret and now she’s run away, not trusting her daughter to let her live her life on her own terms.

 

Then you have Leanne, a housewife, about to be an empty nester who is also struggling to connect with her own daughter, Nora, who is about to go off to college.

 

Each of them carries their own secrets, desires, and need for self-discovery and change. Sometimes those needs don’t align with each other, which results in some butting heads. But as they embark on this epic summer road trip, they learn more about not only themselves, but each other.

 

Q: How did you research the book, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?

 

A: The research for this book consisted of reading several books about the summer of concerts, as well as reading the books that Leanne and Nora bond over in the car. I did extensive research on what the road trip itself would entail, as well as the music industry.

 

I learned so much about the creation of rock n’ roll, as well as how the industry changed for women through the decades. I was fascinated too by the change in fashion from 1960 to 1969.

 

I also learned a lot about dementia and Alzheimer’s. I’ve experienced dementia and Alzheimer’s in my own family, and you study what’s needed emotionally and medically for your own family, but to study it more personally from other people’s experiences and to recreate it on the page was eye opening and heart-wrenching.

 

Leanne’s character was the biggest surprise for me. She started out one way, and ended another, and I really enjoyed watching her flourish.

 

Q: What do you think was special about the summer of 1969?

 

A: I think it was a special summer of change across the country! Women’s rights, civil rights, and a cultural revolution that was inspired and spurred on by the music. There was a sense of freedom, of growth. The music changed, clothes changed, even the way we danced changed. In the immortal lyrics of The Doors, it helped us Break on Through to the Other Side.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m working on two stories right now. One is a gothic historical, disaster mashup, and one is a women’s fiction novel of self-discovery! I can’t say more than that now, but I’m very excited for both!

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I hope readers feel a genuine connection to the story, the characters, and to the emotions threaded throughout. I hope that those connections spark conversations between mothers and daughters, or with friends about their relationships, their hopes, their dreams, their desires for change or stories they want to share.

 

I want my book to be the jumping off point for people to revisit the music or maybe listen for the first time. To read the books mentioned. I want readers to reminisce about the stories that shaped them, and to reflect on not only who they were, but who they’re still becoming.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Eliza Knight.