In 1968, the year Richard North Patterson graduated from college, the U.S. was mired in the Vietnam War. Political violence, anti-war protests and civil rights demonstrations were taking place. The sexual revolution was in full swing. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated and so was presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy. "It's as vivid a year as I've lived through," said Patterson. So vivid that for three decades he thought about using the tumultuous time as the backdrop of a novel.
Set during the summer of 1968, Loss of Innocence is the story of Whitney Dane, a recent college graduate and the daughter of a Wall Street titan. In contrast to the country's turbulent state and a widespread uncertainty, her future as a high-society wife is secure. But while spending the summer on Martha's Vineyard planning her wedding, she meets ambitious and charismatic Benjamin Blaine, who encourages her awakening sense of independence and brings deep-rooted tensions in her picture-perfect family to a dangerous head.
Known for legal and political dramas and psychological suspense, Patterson enters new territory with Loss of Innocence. "This is a straight coming of age novel," he explained. Whereas in his previous books a single event typically propelled the storyline, such as a trial or a search for a stolen nuclear weapon, this story"is much more the way people experience life in that there is a confluence of events rather than one event or goal which is driving the narrative."
Patterson knew from the outset that he would tell the tale from a woman's perspective. Intertwined with the political and social flux of the 1960s was the second wave of feminism. Of the many momentous shifts taking place at the time, "that seemed to me one of the most important and lasting," said Patterson. "I decided I wanted to write about the women's movement but through the lens of what happens to a particular woman in particular circumstances as her life takes directions she never anticipated."
An unexpected turn of events happened for Patterson when he realized his long-awaited, 1968-set novel would work perfectly as a prequel to a book he had recently written, Fall from Grace, a suspense-filled family drama. Along with introducing Whitney Dane, Loss of Innocence sheds light on Benjamin Blaine and some of the other characters in Fall from Grace in their younger years. The final installment in the trilogy, Eden in Winter, is coming in 2014.
Conducting research for Loss of Innocence didn't require the same risky undertakings as some of Patterson's earlier books, for which he traveled to places such as Nigeria and Lebanon, both of which are on the U.S. State Department's travel warning list. Like the other titles in the trilogy, Loss of Innocence takes place primarily on Martha's Vineyard, a milieu he knows well. In addition to spending a couple of winters on the island, he has been summering there for nearly 20 years.
Patterson's research included speaking with a campaign advisor and speechwriter for Robert F. Kennedy as well as crashing a reunion of Wheaton College alumni to hear about their experiences at the Massachusetts school Whitney attended, which admitted only women at the time. The intrepid author once interviewed a man wanted by the Israeli Defense Forces. "It occurred to me that if they knew where he was, they could lob a missile on the place without caring who was with him," recalled Patterson. "That was not a problem I had doing Loss of Innocence, and that was fine with me."