This week’s Jen’s Jewels column takes us to the sun-soaked shores of Martha’s Vineyard with bestselling author Brooke Lea Foster. In OUR LAST VINEYARD SUMMER, Foster delivers a richly layered story of sisterhood, secrets, and self-discovery, set against the backdrop of a cherished family beach house. With dual timelines that span the transformative decades of the 1960s and 70s, this emotionally resonant novel invites readers to reflect on the ties that bind us—and the truths that shape who we become. Don’t miss my heartfelt conversation with Brooke as she shares the inspiration behind her latest summer must-read.
Jen: Brooke, OUR LAST VINEYARD SUMMER is such a nostalgic and emotionally rich novel. What first drew you to tell a story set on Martha’s Vineyard, and why this particular era?
Brooke: I was on vacation with my family on the island – we go every year – and I was up early walking the dog around historic Edgartown like I lived there. As I looked around at all the historic old homes, I began thinking about what it would be like to spend all your childhood summers in such a special place. I thought about what it was like at midcentury, and how comforting it is to know that these old New England coastal communities have been preserved in time. Then I envisioned three grown sisters coming home to the island only to be told they had to sell the house, and I thought: Maybe that should be my next book!
Jen: The dual timeline between 1965 and 1978 gives the story such depth. How did you approach writing these two very different moments in a family’s life—and in American history?
Brooke: Let me back up a second. In the 1970s timeline, the sisters are returning home for the summer a year after their United States Senator father has passed away. Their mother is modeled after some of the iconic feminists of the time period, like Gloria Steinem, and when they begin packing up the beach house to put it on the market, the sisters discover secrets about their family. They’re forced to reckon with a flawed vision of their parents.
When I went back into the 1960s timeline, I wanted the girls to be younger—and I wanted the reader to begin to understand what was happening in their lives back then that led to their mother’s identity as a feminist leader in American history. It lends a depth to the relationships, both in the parents’ marriage and the siblings’ relationships.
Plus, it gave me a chance to jump from the very traditional 1960s to the disco era where women were taking home pregnancy tests for the first time.
Jen: The mother-daughter dynamics in this novel are layered and powerful. Was there a specific relationship or scene that was especially meaningful for you to write?
Brooke: Thank you, Jen! That’s really lovely to hear. It means a lot. I loved writing the relationship between Virgie, the mother, and her youngest, Betsy. Now that I’m a mom I have all of these fears of the ways in which kids misunderstand the actions of their parents. How so much of what a parent does is borne out of love but even as teenagers and young adults, we often can’t see that. I certainly couldn’t see it with my mother. Once I had my own kids, I saw everything through a new lens, with much more wisdom. I try to get that across when writing Virgie and Betsy, just how close and loving a mother daughter relationship can be, yes, but also how fraught with tension and misunderstanding.
Jen: I found Betsy's journey so relatable—torn between family expectations, personal dreams, and romantic hopes. What did you enjoy most about writing her character arc?
Brooke: I’m one of three sisters, and I’m the middle sister. I tend to be the peacemaker. So I really enjoyed jumping in my young sister’s shoes, at least in Betsy’s form. It’s interesting how our view of who our families are can shift based on where we are in our birth order. I always get the sense that my sister is trying to keep up with me and my older sister, even though she’s fully arrived in her life. She’s smart and successful and beautiful, and yet sisters continue to compare themselves to one another. I loved thinking from the youngest’s point of view and asking myself: How might I see my sisters and parents differently if I had been the baby of the family?
Jen: The summer house almost feels like its own character. How did you craft such a vivid sense of place, and did you draw from any personal Vineyard memories?
Brooke: My first novel, SUMMER DARLINGS, is also set at the Vineyard. I love the island so much because it’s the perfect mix of pristine beaches, open meadows and lush forests. I grew up in eastern Long Island, and in the northeast, we wait all year for our summers. When I sit in the winter and write about summer, I’m always longing for longer days and warmer weather. If it seems vivid, it’s because I want to live in those three months all year long.
Jen: Let’s talk about the process for a minute. Are you a planner or more of a pantser writer? And what does a typical writing day look like for you?
Brooke: I’m a pantser. I honestly never begin with an outline. I have characters and I have a premise. Then I start typing. It can be very inefficient but it’s how I like to write. Every time I sit and try to plan, I waste time because I never stick to the outline. I like to wander and go in different directions and figure out the story from there. As my agent always says, I’m a writer who likes the story to reveal itself to me. It’s true.
My schedule is the same every day. I get the kids off to school, I work out and then I sit down to write until about noonish. Then I eat lunch and walk my dog. I sit back down to write around 1 until the kids get home at 3. Then I’m mom. So I write in bursts. It works for me!
Jen: I always love hearing what authors are reading. What’s on your nightstand right now, or a recent read that left a lasting impression?
Brooke: I loved Meg Mitchell Moore’s Mansion Beach! So great! I’m about to pick up Kristy Woodson Harvey’s latest Beach House Rules.
Jen: For readers who want to follow along on your book tour, new releases, or behind-the-scenes peeks, where’s the best place for them to find you?
Brooke: Please sign up for my newsletter at Dear Fiction (dearfiction.substack.com). Or you can find me on Instagram at or my website.
Jen: Without giving too much away, are you working on something new? What can readers look forward to next from you?
Brooke: Yes! My next one is set in Maine. It’s still summer! This one is set in the 1980s and involves a wellness retreat. It’s great fun!
Jen: Finally, readers often feel such a connection to your characters. What do you hope they take away most from Our Last Vineyard Summer once they turn the final page?
Brooke: That this is a book you’ll want to read with your sisters—or with your best friends. Sisters are a gift. You love each other fiercely. But I think it’s a relationship that can be challenging at times too. There can be competition and resentments. I feel like this is a book that can get sisters talking about their pasts, their families and the ways in which they impacted one another, in good ways and bad. I hope it brings sisters closer in that way. It certainly brought me closer to mine.
From the “great storyteller” (Natalie Jenner, author of The Jane Austen Society) Brooke Lea Foster, a captivating new novel set in 1965 and 1978 about a graduate student who returns with her sisters to their family’s summer home on Martha’s Vineyard and begins to unravel old family secrets.
After suffering through her first year of graduate school at Columbia following her senator father’s death, Betsy Whiting is hoping to spend the summer with her boyfriend…and hopefully end the summer as his fiancée. Instead, her mother—a longtime feminist and leader in the women’s movement—calls Betsy and her sisters back home to Martha’s Vineyard, announcing that they need to sell their beloved summer house to pay off their father’s debts.
When Betsy arrives on the island a week later, she must reckon with her strained familial relationships, a long-ago forbidden romance, and the complicated legacy of her parents, who divided the family even as they did good for the world.
Following a dual timeline between 1965 and 1978, and filled with the vibrant, sunlit nostalgia of the cherished New England vacation setting, Our Last Vineyard Summerpoignantly captures two generations of women navigating love, loss, and womanhood while trying to find the courage to stand up for what they believe in—and the strength to decide if the home they once loved is worth saving.
Women's Fiction Friendship | Historical [Gallery Books, On Sale: July 1, 2025, Hardcover / e-Book , ISBN: 9781668034408 / eISBN: 9781668034422]
Brooke Lea Foster is an award-winning author and journalist who has worked as a writer and editor at The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, The Huffington Post and the Washingtonian magazine.
Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Parents, PARADE, The Baltimore Sun, The Boston Globe, Psychology Today, among others.
Her novels, Summer Darlings and On Gin Lane, were featured as top summer reads in People Magazine, named a top summer pick by Entertainment Weekly and named one of PARADE’s best books of summer. She writes the popular Dear Fiction newsletter and she's the author of three nonfiction books. All the Summers in Between is her third novel.
Jennifer Vido writes sweet romances set in the Lowcountry, earning acclaim as the award-winning author of the Gull Island series. Her debut novel, "Serendipity by the Sea," secured the prestigious Best First Book award from the New Jersey Romance Writers Golden Leaf Contest. In 2024, Vido's talent garnered further accolades, with Baltimore Magazine readers naming her Best Local Author in their annual Best of Baltimore poll, while the Baltimore Sun acknowledged her with an Honorable Mention in their Best of 2024 Author category. When not writing fiction, she interviews authors for her weekly Jen’s Jewels column, leads water exercise classes, and directs a legal nonprofit. Currently residing in Maryland, she and her husband are proud parents to two grown sons and a rescue dog named Fripp.
No comments posted.
© 2003-2025 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy