When Talking’s Tough: The Magic of the Mother/Daughter Book Club  

By Mima Tipper

When I began writing Kat’s Greek Summer, I had a clear view of basing the story loosely on summers I spent in Greece as a young teen, and that the book would be saturated with sun-soaked locales and colorful Greeks. What I didn’t know is that my main character Kat, a 14 yro half Greek half American high school runner wanna-be, and her Greek mother would spend some of their summer in Greece not communicating. And that Kat’s mom would also face communication difficulties with her own mother, the book’s Yiayiá Sofia. To be sure I remembered my own teen self’s lack of desire and ability to talk to my mom all those years ago, and it was only years later that even while my mom and I as adults had plenty to talk about, we also discovered the pleasure of sharing books and book talk. And that’s what I want to talk about here. The fact that maybe if teen me and my mom had ever shared books during those years, perhaps those books could’ve created a bridge of conversation for us that would’ve gone so much beyond painful conversations about any of my teen angst.  

A little history to build out this thought about the value of mother daughter book clubs (at any age, but most importantly for mothers and their young teen daughters). I’ve always been a huge reader. I could read before I started school, and my dad even commented that as a toddler I’d walk around with a book hugged to my chest like I was “holding treasure.” To be sure, my tastes and reading patterns changed over the years, but always, always reading remained one of my chief pleasures. That said, when I was a kid, talking about books did not appeal to me. I suppose, for me at least, I will point to school and essays and forced-march reading as the reason for the disconnect between my enjoying books and enjoying book talk.    

Jump ahead a bunch of years. I am now a young mother, and my own mother opts to spend her summers in Vermont near us so that she is able to help with the kids. This was a big deal as she was away from her normal posse of friends, and somewhat cut off from the likes of cable and the internet. She turned to reading, and discovered the books of Nora Roberts. For anyone on the planet who hasn’t heard of Nora Roberts, suffice it to say that she is a megastar of the romance novel genre, having published multiple dozens of single titles and series under her own name and under pen names. My mom began with one of Nora’s fantasy/romance series. At first, I was bemused with my mom’s choice of reading material, but as she extolled the pleasure and satisfaction of the Nora books, the lure of reading a book together sprang magically into my consciousness.  

Mom was particularly taken with a series known in the Nora universe as the Gallaghers of Ardmore trilogy, and so that is where I began. Well, reader, one book in and I was hooked. The story was well-written and fun, the romance was steamy, and the characters were engaging. What turned out to be even more fun was talking to my mom about the books. We’d take the kids to a park or the beach, and sit for hours dissecting plot points and characters. Over the years, we moved through many more of Nora’s books, and even when my mom was back home in Florida, we could still spend a good portion of our phone visits talking about the books we’d both read. I loved those hours, and all of our book chat. No matter what was going on in either of our lives, talking about the books was a fun release—even if we didn’t love the particular Nora we were discussing. There we’d gleefully go on about a character too similar to one in another book, or a plot point too predictable. Completely delightful. 

And all that book sharing and talk has the added pleasure that now that my mom is gone—she passed in 2020—I still have the books. When I see that Nora has a new book out, I read it and imagine I am sharing it with my mom. I think of what my mom would’ve said about the book, the parts she would’ve liked or criticized, and there is an amazing amount of pleasure in that. That’s what sharing books creates and accomplishes. And sharing them with someone we love, like a mother or a daughter? Well, multiply that pleasure and possibility in untold ways. How amazing to read a book, and then discuss handling the situations and relationships explored in the books, or laugh at the funny parts or groan over the unbelievable parts? Yeah, greatness-factor—huge! 

For me? I’ll do all possible to get Kat’s Greek Summer to moms and daughters, and hope some will share their thoughts about the book with me. And for sure I’ll be looking for the next Nora, and diving deep into the fun of what my mom would’ve thought.  

KAT’S GREEK SUMMER

For fans of Jenna Evans Welch and Barbara Dee, a timely and uplifting contemporary YA story of a young girl risking all for self-truth, family, and first love over one sun-drenched Greek summer.

Ready—set—look out, world! Kat Baker is about to explode . . . onto the high school scene, that is. All she has to do? Spend July and August training with New Canaan High’s cross-country team, become a running goddess and, come fall, claim her place as the team’s star freshman runner.

When her mom shocks her with the unwelcome news that the family will spend the summer exploring their roots in the rustic Greek village of Paralia, Kat’s sure her high school popularity plan is toast. Once in Paralia, punishing heat and cultural clashes force her to launch a risky and covert training strategy to keep her running-star dreams alive. And it is during these hidden sessions that Kat is swept into late-night encounters with Theofilus Zafirakis, a beautiful but off-limits Greek boy.

As Kat’s lies mount, her secret odyssey spirals out of control, finally putting one of her cousins in danger. In the end, it takes the unexpected meddling of a village full of crazy, wonderful—and not so wonderful—Greeks for her to open up to her Greek side and stand strong, discovering at last that the key to belonging anywhere is belonging first to herself.

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MIMA TIPPER: Half-Greek, half-American, Mima Tipper and her writing reflect her heritage—a little bit old-country, a little bit rock and roll: one foot wandering through the dreamy realms of myths and faerie tales, the other running on the solid ground of fast-paced, contemporary story. She earned her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and has published YA fiction in Hunger Mountain and Sucker Literary magazine. Her YA short story “A Cut-out Face” received an honorable mention from Hunger Mountain’s Katherine Paterson Prize, her work-in-progress “Chasing a Blue So Wild” was a top ten finalist in Voyage YA’s first chapter contest, and her work-in-progress “Channeling Marilyn” came in second place for Paranormal Romance in the Chesapeake Romance Writer’s annual Rudy contest. “Kat’s Greek Summer” will be her first published novel. Beyond devoting most of her time to writing, Mima volunteers at her local library and is committed to promoting literacy. Mima lives in Vermont with her family. Learn more at: www.mimatipper.com

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Facebook: @mimatipper | Twitter: @meemtip | Instagram: @mimatip 

 

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Category: On Writing