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| Sheila Roberts (photo: Robert Rabe) |
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In Sand Dollar Lane (Mira, $28.99, reviewed in this issue), the sixth in her Moonlight Harbor series, Sheila Roberts explores life after relationship failure with warmth, humor and optimism. When divorce finds successful realtor Lucy Holmes leaving the city for a new life at the beach, she must cope with unfamiliar surroundings, unique friends, and an unexpected romance with real estate competitor Brody Green. Roberts lives on the Pacific Northwest's Puget Sound with her husband.
How did you come up with such distinctive, fun features for the novel's world on the Washington coast?
It wasn't hard. My fictional town of Moonlight Harbor was inspired by Ocean Shores, a fun and funky, fast-growing beach town on the Washington coast. They do, indeed, have a tourist shop with an entrance shaped like a giant shark's mouth, as well as a beautiful beach and a system of canals built by the Army Corps of Engineers way back in the '60s. We go there often and love it. It's such a friendly, happy place, I felt someone needed to pay homage to it.
The secondary characters who make up Lucy's group of friends are precisely the sort of people every woman wants for her own "crew." Did you set out to assign specific traits to each friend or did they organically evolve from the novel's circumstances? Do you feel a supporting cast is essential to a woman's successful post-divorce journey?
Some of the characters in this book either kicked off the series or have made ongoing appearances in later books, which, I hope, adds to the small-town flavor. So, some of the characters have been developing their personalities over time. A new woman introduced in this book, Lucy's neighbor Bonnie, plays in an all-girl band called The Mermaids. Bonnie is a bit of a mystery in this book, but I'm working on her story and that of the other Mermaids for the next Moonlight Harbor novel. I especially love Bonnie and Jenna Jones, who kicked off the series and usually play a part in all the Moonlight Harbor tales. And, yes, I sure do feel every woman needs her posse--that group of friends who will be there to share both the laughter and the tears, who will support her and help slay the dragons in her life, whoever or whatever they may be. IMHO, girlfriends are more valuable than buried treasure.
Lucy's character growth while renovating her new home seemed crucial to rebuilding her life. Did you draw from personal experience for this element of the plot?
Yes, I have done a ton of this kind of thing, starting many years ago when our children were young. My family owned a huge chunk of property that my parents had bought before I was even born and my oldest brother was already living there. We decided to join him, turning a little cabin into a full-time residence. We had no idea how stressful that would be. As we added on to the cabin, the kids slept in the two bedrooms and we slept on army cots in the tiny living room. The foundation was poured--too small--and the weather conspired against us. A huge snowstorm hit the Pacific Northwest and we were snowed inside that 600-square-foot cabin together, keeping our food packed in snow on the front porch. And then the rains came. The only place my husband and I could get romantic was in the bathtub in the one and only bathroom. With no lock. I'll let you use your imagination on that. I remember one day telling my mother-in-law, "I hate your son. I'm going to poison him." I can't remember when that was. Maybe after we discovered the disadvantage of not having a lock on the bathroom door. I didn't poison my sweetie, and we're still together, but I did have his parents a little worried about my mental state.
Since then we've built two different houses, remodeled a condo and are currently renovating a darling waterfront cottage that needs some TLC. I have declared it is our last house. Because I am never moving again and I'm certainly never building or renovating anything after this. Ever.
Fixing houses, like any other big project, can be rewarding if you just hang in there. It's the same with fixing our lives. I felt Lucy's new house was a good metaphor for the changes she was making in her life.
Lucy and Brody's struggles to set aside their differences as business competitors to create a truce for their children's sake is certain to resonate with contemporary readers. Did you purposely set out to weave a picture of how successfully to navigate a rocky post-divorce/relationship journey? Or was it a happy coincidence?
I think coming ashore from the wreckage of a divorce is traumatic for everyone. I certainly hope that reading about how Lucy and Brody finally manage to unpack their baggage and get together will be encouraging to anyone who's gone through that and is trying to rebuild her life. Looking forward and not back, I believe, is key to moving on from any difficult past.
Whether or not Lucy and Brody are brave enough to rise above their fear of future heartbreak to forge a happier, more fulfilling life as a couple is a central conflict in this novel. Hope and belief in a better future is a key theme in many of your novels. Is this purposeful on your part?
This does appear to be a continuing theme. And frankly, that's a hard question to answer. I've been writing since dust, so my writing has definitely evolved. I would say that, yes, I always want to leave the reader with a smile on her face along with a bit of encouragement that she can turn her life around. There's enough misery in the world. Who wants to close a book and feel even more miserable? Not me. That doesn't mean the reader won't shed a few tears along the way because life is both sweet and sour. But I prefer to end my stories on a sweet note. Literary dessert. --Lois Faye Dyer, writer and reviewer