The Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club
An Interview with Martha Hall Kelly
This week’s Q&A is with Martha Hall Kelly, bestselling author of Lilac Girls, Sunflower Sisters, and more. We dive into her latest novel, The Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club, about two sisters living on Martha’s Vineyard during World War II who start a war-time book club.
Martha discusses drawing on her own family’s ties to the island, fascinating stories from her research (including Nazi U-boat activity off the Massachusetts coast), and crafting the complex characters she’s known for.
The book releases May 27th…you can get your preorders in now and enter the book giveway (details below).
“A dreamy beach book that also sizzles with tension . . . another winner by one of the best historical fiction writers around.” —Fiona Davis, author of The Stolen Queen
I read that The Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club has its roots in your own family history. What is your connection to the island?
My mother's family, the Smiths, settled on Martha's Vineyard in 1891 in a farmhouse that's still there today, and operated a flower farm. My mother grew up there and I've been spending summers there for 67 years. So it felt natural to base characters in this book on my mother, grandmother and uncle.
As someone from coastal Massachusetts, I was fascinated reading about the unique WWII experiences of residents' of this area. (And it brings new understanding to the WWII watch tower on my childhood beach!) What did you uncover in your research that would surprise people?
So much! The Nazi U-boats that were in the waters around Cape Cod and the Islands, for starters. My mother had told me about them and how nervous it made everyone on the island but once I dug into the background it was astonishing that Hitler had sent his wolf packs to sink our ships and for months he had a field day doing just that. I was also shocked to find out that the U-boat crews interacted with local fishermen and some German sailors actually came on shore. It was also surprising how scarce books were during the war — since the chemicals and materials needed to make hardcovers were in short supply.
Yours are the kind of books readers can't put down because we're so invested in the characters. (Though I may be a more extreme example of this than most! I will always remember reading Lilac Girls while in labor with my daughter — determined to get to the end before leaving for the hospital). How do you approach developing your characters?
OMG I love that story! I do a lot of character work before I put pen to paper and then just throw them into the story and see how they develop and react to the plot. Some don't survive!
Historical fiction readers have such a unique lens for viewing current events. How do you think the book speaks to the moment we're in?
I wanted to write a book that takes the reader to a lovely time when our country wasn't so divided, a simpler time pre-cell phone and internet, when books ruled and Martha's Vineyard was quieter and less developed, the Vineyard I remember from my childhood. I loved living in that place while I was writing this book.
This is definitely a novel full of references for bookworms! What is your favorite book mentioned in The Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club?
I had so much fun with the book club part of this book. My publisher was amazed that there are 38 books mentioned in this novel and I'd have to say Brideshead Revisited is my favorite of all the books!
About the Author: Martha Hall Kelly is the New York Times bestselling author of Lilac Girls, Lost Roses, Sunflower Sisters, and The Golden Doves. She was born and raised in Massachusetts, received Journalism degrees from both Syracuse and Northwestern Universities and worked as an advertising copywriter for many years before becoming a novelist. With more than two million copies of her books sold and translated in fifty countries, Martha lives in Litchfield, CT, Hobe Sound, FL, and New York City.
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