Kate Nobel romance novel explores highwayman mystery
Rating 3 Stars
By Gabrielle Pantera
“It’s a very personal story for me because of the setting,” says The Summer of You author Kate Nobel. “I’ve been lucky enough to spend every summer of my life, at least in part, on a lake in the American Mideast.”
“The sense of town camaraderie, along with the different pace of life, really brings into focus who you are as a person, and who you wish to be,” says Nobel. “I wanted to give my characters, who were both somewhat caught in different ways in the madness of city life, this pause, this reset, where they could find themselves and each other.”
The Summer of You is a story of two people find they have a more in common then originally thought. The book starts slowly, but you the highwayman mystery and the steadily growing love story between Jane and Byrne will draw in the reader.
Lady Jane Cummings feels that with no more parties or balls in London for the season, her life is ruined. She goes with her brother Jason and her father, who’s suffering memory loss, to a family-owned cottage, as they call it, at isolated Merrymere Lake. Life slows down, but there’s still gossip that catches Jane’s attention. She needs something to save her from a dull summer, and the new owner of the house nearby could be it. Is he the infamous highwayman? Not likely. He’s Byrne Worth, the war hero. The two become friends. Jane’s determined to clear Byrne’s name. Jane and Byrne were introduced in Nobel’s previous book Compromised.
“I was not terribly familiar with the lake district of England, let alone the lake district during the Regency period,” says Nobel. “A great deal of my researched focused on the area, its geography, its rhythms and traditions.”
Nobel consulted a geriatrician about the effects of dementia, how it would affect Jane’s father and the family.
Nobel found her agent, Annalise Robey of the Jane Rotrosen Agency, through a query letter. “I finished my first novel, Compromised, and submitted it everywhere,” says Nobel. “Revised and submitted some more. Finally after twenty queries, I got a bite from my current agents. I had a contract for that book at Berkley [an imprint of Penguin Group] within a year.” Noble’s editor at Berkley is Cindy Hwang.
“Working with Kate is truly a pleasure,” says agent Annalise Robey. “I’m excited to represent such a talented writer. Her books are always so charming, effervescent and inspired. I think that’s what makes her so special.”
The Summer of You has yet to be optioned for film or TV. Kate Nobel was born and lives in California. She’s currently working on the next book in the series, which will tell the story of Jane’s brother Jason.
The Summer of You by Kate Nobel .Trade Paperback: 352 pages, Publisher: Berkley Trade; (April 6, 2010), Language: English, ISBN: 9780425232392
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