Kristy Woodson Harvey on her new reading, Beaufort and book clubs – Garden & Gun

What would you do if you’d never met your grandparents but were asked to prepare their house for sale? And then when you got there, you found it frozen in time, with dinner still on the table from the night they disappeared decades ago? That’s the fascinating scenario that North Carolina author Kristy Woodson Harvey creates in her latest release. A happier life.

The New York Times Bestselling author of The summer of the songbirds and the “Peachtree Bluff” series tells an emotional story about aging and self-determination, part romantic comedy, part crime thriller. G&G We caught up with the North Carolina resident to get a spoiler-free insight into the true inspiration behind her latest novel.

How did you come up with this special story?

When I was ten years old, I was allowed to go into a house that was completely abandoned. No one had been in it for 50 years. It was like a time capsule. Apparently the couple who owned it had had an argument on Thanksgiving and everyone left the house and no one came back. So when you walked in, the table was still completely set for Thanksgiving. There was a newspaper on the sofa and toys in the kids’ rooms. It was like someone had walked through the door 50 years ago, locked it, and we went right back in after they left.

What a perfect scene for a book.

I thought it would be interesting for a granddaughter to return to a house like this and piece together pieces of her grandparents’ lives.

In the history, Keaton Smith, the granddaughter, discovers her grandmother Becks’ diary full of entertaining tips and recipes. Where does this plot detail come from?

When I was growing up in the South, my grandmothers loved to throw beautiful parties. When they had a book club, it wasn’t just a book club. It was a chance to get out the tablecloths and the china, the crystal, the polished silver, and decorate the flowers. The little Southern ladies who cooked in town would come over to make the ham biscuits and the cheese sticks. I love those things, and I love hosting. But in the book, Keaton recognizes that her mother didn’t carry her on. Doing those things seems so easy to dismiss, along the lines of, “Oh, Mom or Grandma didn’t have jobs, they just threw parties.” But you can learn a lot about a person by seeing how they take care of other people.

You’re right. It was a different era.

But you know, when I think of someone like my grandmother, she was one of the luckiest people I knew. Both grandmothers championed so many causes, founded so many organizations, and changed so many things for the better in the places they lived.

Keaton makes a similar discovery. She realizes that her all-consuming career in New York City may not be the answer, and that maybe it’s more important to take care of herself and this place she loves, Beaufort.

Originally, the story was going to be set in Key West, but I realized I would have to do a lot of research to write about that area. I thought, why not make it easy and set it in Beaufort? I was very hesitant. But I knew the story needed something to connect Becks and Keaton between the past and present. What could be better than the Old Homes Tour?

In the book, it was founded by Becks and Keaton recreates it with the older ladies she befriended in the town.

It’s a huge event in real life in Beaufort. Tens of thousands of people attend. I work on it every year and I’m on that committee and I just thought it would be really fun if Keaton continued it.

Art imitates life and helps solve the decades-old missing person case.

Yes, and at my favorite Old Homes Tour event, the Champagne Brunch, I will be launching this book on Sunday, June 30th.

How about some quick questions? Cookies or cornbread?

Cookies.

Beach or mountains?

Beach, but I love them both.

I know you’re from UNC Chapel Hill – you studied journalism there. So, football or basketball?

When I was a little girl, we never missed a home football game. But we’re just obsessed with it. You know, we’re also a women’s field hockey school and this year we haven’t missed a home women’s basketball game either.

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