Kristy Woodson Harvey, a New York Times bestselling author and co-host of the “Friends in Fiction” podcast, will make a pair of stops in Spartanburg County on July 11 to support her 11th novel, “A Happier Life.”
Drawing inspiration from the death of her great aunt and uncle in the 1970s, Harvey crafted a story linking the past with the present as a granddaughter looks to learn about the grandparents she never knew.
Set in Beaufort, North Carolina, the book follows two timelines: Keaton Smith living in the present day, and Smith’s grandmother Rebecca “Becks” Saint James as she lives through 40 years ending in 1976.
In the present day, Smith comes to Beaufort to spend time in her mother’s childhood home and learns about her grandparents, who died in a car accident before she was born. She also builds relationships with neighbors as she finds she has more questions than answers. Meanwhile, in the past, the story follows James through a 40-year stretch of time as she makes a name for herself as a North Carolina hostess whose annual summer suppers have become the stuff of legend, and locals and out-of-towners alike clamor for an invitation.
“The original inspiration is something that happened in my own family,” Harvey said. “I had a great aunt and uncle who passed away in kind of an unusual accident in the ’70s before I was born. It was something that I had always thought about a lot. I always asked my grandmother about it. The jumping-off point for this novel was that great aunt and uncle and their accident, so it made sense for one of the points of view to be set in the ’70s.”
As Harvey developed the book, she researched what life was like in Beaufort at the time. She also ended up incorporating traditions into the book.
“One of the themes that ended up coming out in this book that I didn’t even really plan was the ways we maintain tradition in the South and the ones that we aren’t able to maintain,” Harvey said. “So, in the past point of view, we are seeing this woman who is this incredible hostess and has all these amazing traditions with her family and friends. Then, we see her granddaughter in the present trying to recreate and hold onto some of these traditions that were started by her grandmother but adapting them in a different way for a different time period.”
Harvey will appear at Spartanburg County Public Library’s Chesnee Branch at 1 p.m. and Cherokee County Public Library in Gaffney at 5:30 p.m. For more information, visit kristywoodsonharvey.com/tour-dates.
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