Nicola Harrison is the author of Montauk.From her Q&A with Deborah Kalb:
Q: How did you come up with the idea for Montauk and for your character Beatrice?Visit Nicola Harrison's website.
A: I’ve spent a lot of time in Montauk. I used to own a house there - we bought it from a local lobster fisherman named Billy who was selling up and moving his family to Florida.
When we went into town and talked to the locals they all said, “Oh yeah, I know where you live, you live in Billy’s house up on the hill.” For years our house was referred to as Bill’s house and I was just so intrigued by the strong sense of loyalty and community.
Also in the years that we owned the house I saw Montauk change so much from a sleepy little fishing village into the popular destination that it is today. I think I just became obsessively nostalgic for the quaint little fishing village that it started out as.
A lot of the places that I write about in the novel are still thriving today – The Montauk Manor, Gurneys, The Yacht Club, Duryea’s, White’s Pharmacy, and others have since closed (such as Trails End). What’s nice about Montauk is that…[read on]
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