The East End of Long Island is an endless, fertile source to mine for good stories and storytelling. Just ask best-selling author Brooke Lea Foster.
That’s exactly what moderator and WLIW radio host Gianna Volpe will be inquiring of Foster, along with renowned, iconic music photographer Deborah Feingold, tomorrow at North Fork Apothecary‘s latest salon-style event, “Prose and Pictures: An Intimate Evening of Storytelling in all Forms.”
The two-hour talk promises to be rollicking and real dive into the work of these two super talented women, but also a clear-eyed look at the creative process (hint: it ain’t easy — it’s work), the way real life interweaves and inspires them and how to find the and pull the threads that ultimately create the moving and lasting impressions on readers and viewers.
It’s little wonder NoFo Apothecary owner Stephanie Sack dreamed this up; in a way, that’s exactly what she does in her lovely Cutchogue shop. If you’ve ever wandered in, then you know that Sack not only knows how to create a transporting mood and vibe, but set a scene and style that tells a story. She just does it through the medium of design, be it what you put on your body or in your home. She’s also been eager to support her fellow creatives via pop-ups and events like this one; big snaps for that.
We caught up with Foster in advance of Saturday’s talk to chat about her latest page-turner All the Summer’s In Between (June 2024, Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster), currently for sale at Burton’s Books in Greenport, about what it’s like to grow up on the East End and how to write that novel that’s been gurgling around in your brain.
NORTHFORKER: Your grasp of the East End in your historical fiction certainly hints at a deep familiar with the area. Where did you grow up?
BROOKE LEA FOSTER: I grew up in Wading River, now considered the gateway to the North Fork, but when I was growing up we didn’t have the North Fork branded as it is now at that time. We were just the second to last exit off the LIE. It was a little summer community where had winterized houses and a beach at the end of road; 168 steps from the cliff to the Sound. As a kid, I loved it. Then [as a teenager] I thought it was boring, and all I wanted to do was leave. As soon as I got older, went to college, got married, had kids, and I wanted to do was come back and give my kids the same experience I had growing up.
NF: How did you get into writing historical fiction?
BLF: I was a journalist for about 25 years before I wrote my first novel. I’d always dreamed of it. I’d go to book stores and run hand my hand across the covers and dream of writing my own stories. When my little one was a year old, I wrote my first book, Summer Darlings, which takes place in Martha’s Vineyard. My fourth book will be out next summer.
When I wrote fiction for the first time, I could hear my own voice but I had to figure out what that was and what I wanted to say. And it was scary. Let yourself develop that voice and trust it.
Brooke Lea Foster
NF: What’s it about?
BLF: It’s more of an epic saga with secrets. Think: what if a Gloria Steinem-like woman had been your mom? The book begins in 1978 and follows three sisters called home to deal with family financial problems after the death of their father. While trying to save the house, they uncover secrets…
NF: Your books all hover around that time period. What keeps pulling you there?
BLF: They’re all set in ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. I love looking at all the myriad ways womens lives have changed and also how they haven’t changed at all. When we look back and say, oh my gosh, we’ve come so far in equity, but women are dealing with a lot of the same issues that were going on then as they are now.
NF: Your main characters, Thea and Margot, are shown at two distinct phases in their lives: When they first become friends as very young women in the late ’60s, and then 10 years in the late ’70s when they’re both around 30. Why did you decide to split the time in the plot?
BLF: I wanted these women to be ridng the tide of optimism of the ’60s. The Equal Rights Amendment, the National Organization for Women women marching in protest and seeing a future so different from their mothers and grandmothers. They believed they would go out there and have careers and live life on their own terms, which is what Thea and Margot are caught up in working in a record store in East Hampton, and people like Grace Slick and quotes like “We’re the people your parents warned you about.” Later in the book, the ’70s fall out feels like a big, fat hangover. Margot and Thea’s ideas about themselves don’t come to fruition. Women were out working in greater numbers, but at .62 cents on dollar in comparison to men. There’s a lot of disappointment. When Margot comes back into Thea’s life, they can’t help but self -asses: “How far we are from where we thought would be when we were 20?” I really wanted that as a part of this story.
NF: Your new novel, “All the Summers in Between” is such a great mix of rich characters and the layer’s that people have, and hide, from each other, especially in women’s friendships. Add in class differences, and it gets even harder to pull apart. What drew you to this?
BLF: When you grow up out here and you see the perfect privet hedges, you say to yourself, god, who gets to live that life? But like anything, it’s actually not as perfect as you think. It’s how Margot seems to Thea initially, but then she realizes as the story goes on that things are a lot more complicated and Margot has a lot of trouble in her life. Thea’s mom passed away and she’s left to deal with her plumber step-baby and the pressure of taking care of family and being so enamored by Margot’s. But Margot is equally enamored with Thea’s life – her confidence and ideas about herself and the people who all look to her and love her and see her as their true north. Who really are the haves and have nots? Who’s really struggling and who’s not?
NF: The book does a great job of focusing on the tension and complexity between locals and summer people via the main characters, Thea, a local girl, and Margot, a wealthy summer resident. Was this something you experienced personally?
BLF: There’s a lot of resentment and tension and misunderstanding under surface in communities like these, and when I got older and went back into these towns, like Montauk and the Hamptons, as an adult, you realize everyone has problems and baggage. Everyone is dealing with emotional pain. Some just have much fancier houses and drive nicer cars. But we’re all dealing with same stuff.
NF: For all the burgeoning novelists out there, any advice on excavating your long-burning stories to the page?
BLF: Yes! I always say get your butt in a chair. You have to sit and write a little every day. If you can’t, get your head in the story and take a notebook with you at lunch and outline a character; keep your head in the story every single day. You get a fresh chance every day to see the story in a new light. When I was a journalist, I got used to writing in the voice of the publications I worked for. When I wrote fiction for the first time, I could hear my own voice but I had to figure out what that was and what I wanted to say. And it was scary. Let yourself develop that voice and trust it.
“Prose and Pictures: An Intimate Evening of Storytelling in all Forms” starts at 5 p.m. Saturday, July 13, at North Fork Apothecary, 37070 Main Road, Cutchogue. Tickets for the event are a pocket-easy $20 and can be purchased here. Both Foster and Feinstein’s books will be for sale at the event.
