The Real Inspiration for my Fictitious Setting by Kristin Harper

One of my favorite compliments I’ve received about setting came from a reader who told me she’d added Dune Island—the location for my women’s fiction series—to the top of her list of must-see vacation destinations. Although I regretted having to tell her the island doesn’t actually exist, I was delighted and flattered that she was so drawn in by my descriptions she wanted to visit it in person.

While there isn’t any such place called Dune Island in the waters off the Massachusetts coast, in my imagination the island is a cross between two very real places: Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard. Those two areas have been a part of my life for decades.

The first time my family vacationed on Cape Cod I was about four or five years old. We stayed for a week but it felt like a lot longer than that to my parents because it rained the entire time. Cooped up in a tiny cottage with four young, rambunctious children, my mother declared, “We are never coming back to this place again.”

Fortunately, when the following summer arrived, she reconsidered and our family returned to Cape Cod for another week. The weather was much better the second time around, and we had a fantastic time swimming, beachcombing, exploring trails, flying kites, roasting marshmallows, etc. (It did rain for one day, which we gladly spent reading books that we’d checked out from the local library, piecing together jigsaw puzzles on a rickety card table and playing ping pong in the musty basement.)

After that, we vacationed on Cape Cod every summer while I was growing up. As adults and parents ourselves, we’ve continued this annual tradition with the “next” generation of children, who enjoy it every bit as much as my siblings and I did when our mother and father took us there.

As a college student, I fell in love with Martha’s Vineyard when a friend invited a group of us to stay in his family’s summer home. Now, I split my time between living on the Cape and living “off-Cape,” as diehard Cape Codders refer to the rest of the world. I visit Martha’s Vineyard as frequently as I can during the off-season, especially when I need to get away for a writer’s retreat.

Being near the ocean has always been inspiring to me. I’ve often wished I were an artist—or a decent photographer—so I could capture its essence and bring it home with me to share what I love about it with others. However, since I lack any visual artistic ability whatsoever, I use language instead to try to transport readers to the seaside.

One of the reasons I chose to create a fictitious location rather than setting my series on the Cape or the Vineyard is because sometimes my plots require me to exercise creative license. I don’t want my stories to be restricted to the actual geography, or even to the factual history of those two places. But make no mistake: Dune Island is a quintessentail coastal Massachusetts location. Which means it is, at turns, charming and quaint, rough and rugged, glorious and gorgeous, spectacular and serene. And always, always inspiring.

“Escape to the Cape” is a popular slogan printed on scores of postcards, coffee mugs, T-shirts and other souvenirs that can be found in most Cape Cod gift shops, but it might as well be stamped on my book covers, too. “Escape to Dune Island” may not have the same catchy ring to it, but it’s my hope that after reading my books, people will feel like they’ve taken a good, long satisfying trip to the seaside.

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KRISTIN HARPER
Ever since she was a young girl, there were few things Kristin liked more than creative writing and spending time on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with her family. Eventually, she found a way to combine those two passions by becoming a women’s fiction author whose stories occur in oceanside settings. She considers beach walking to be a vital part of her creative process.

My Grandmother’s Inn: A totally gorgeous and gripping page-turner (Dune Island)

Periwinkle-blue flowers spill over the picket fence, framing the simple wooden sign that reads Hydrangea House. But Molly’s eyes fill with tears. Her grandmother Beverley used to stand right there in the doorway, ready to welcome guests. Now Beverley is gone, will the inn close forever?

Grieving and newly single Molly Anderson begs the wealthy Frost family, owners of Hydrangea House, to allow her to run the inn for one last summer before they shut it down. She vows to give the final guests a summer to remember by the sea. It’s what Beverly—who worked uncomplainingly for the Frosts her whole life—would have wanted.

But when an elderly woman checks in claiming to know a secret about Beverly’s true connection to the Frost family, everything Molly knows about her beloved grandmother is called into question. The woman says that a message in a bottle hidden somewhere at Hydrangea House, will not only reveal the truth, but could stop the Frosts’ plan in its tracks.

Desperate to do whatever she can to save Hydrangea House, Molly combs the inn from attic to basement, helped by visiting oceanographer Matt. She could never get involved with a guest, but Matt’s kindness as he listens to her worries, and the way his deep brown eyes keep locking with hers are hard to ignore…

But as they fill their summer with searching, rumors and bad reviews about Molly start to spread. By delving into the mystery of the past, has she shattered any chance of the inn’s future? Can Matt be trusted, or is he more closely linked to the Frost family than she thought? And when she finally unlocks the secret about her grandmother, will it bring Molly peace—or tear her apart?

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