One of my earliest memories is going to a bookstore on Cape Cod. My parents vacationed there before I was even born. After my brother and I came along, they continued to take us there every summer until we moved to the Midwest, where East Coast vacations became a tricky proposition for a young family.
One of my favorite places on the Cape was a bookstore that overlooked the water, and it was a place I returned to often in my memory.
So when I heard about the series Secrets of Mary’s Bookshop, I was intrigued. I felt doubly blessed to get the assignment to author books in the series not only because it was a plum of an assignment but also because it gave me ample opportunities to revisit pleasant memories of my summers on the Cape.
Unlike other books I work on, I didn’t have to do a lot of research to learn what the Cape was like. I already knew all about it: the sleepy roads, the pine trees, the quiet bay, the rolling ocean, and the warm freshwater lakes that dot the curve of land in between.
Usually I get to learn all about a new world when I work on a new book. But with this series, returning in fiction to the Cape Cod I’d known as a child felt even better. It felt like coming home.
My hope is that whether or not you’ve ever been to Cape Cod, this book series will make you feel at home, not just in Mary’s Bookshop, but also amidst the beauty of the coastal villages of the Cape.
