What is the title of your latest release?
CECE DOWNING’S START OVER SUMMER
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
After losing her stable job as an actuary and breaking up with her fiancé, a thirty-two-year-old woman flees to a coastal Connecticut town for a summer of reinvention, only to find herself caught between an unexpected romance, a local class war over an oyster farm, and a sudden family crisis.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I’ve always wanted to set something in New London, CT.
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
Absolutely. She’s a bit all over the place, but she seems like a fun hang!
What are three words that describe your hero?
conflicted, driven, messy.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
Running an oyster farming business is tough!
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I usually edit chapter by chapter.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Oysters, of course!
Describe your writing space/office!
A nice big office surrounded by my books.
Who is an author you admire?
Edith Wharton
Is there a book that changed your life?
STONER by John Williams
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published). Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
My agent called me to share the good news. To this day, that moment still feels like a dream. It still feels very much impossible.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
I love a good social drama like PRIDE AND PREJUDICE or THE HOUSE OF MIRTH.
What’s your favorite movie?
Can I pick two? Parasite and You’ve Got Mail.
What is your favorite season?
Summer.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
A nice meal out with family and friends.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Widow’s Bay on Apple TV, Rental House by Weike Wang, and the Otherppl Podcast with Brad Listi.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Korean.
What do you do when you have free time?
Read, write, and repeat.
What can readers expect from you next?
I’m currently working on two different projects. One is more literary, the other is more of something in the same vein as CECE DOWNING’S START OVER SUMMER.
A witty, heartfelt novel about a young woman who leaves everything behind to work on an oyster farm in a small New England town.
Recently fired from her dependable career as an actuary, and recovering from a messy breakup with her fiancé, thirty-two-year-old Cece Downing is holed up for the summer in New London, Connecticut, without a plan. Mounting financial debts soon force Cece to take the first job opportunity that comes her way—one she’s wholly unsuited for—as a deckhand on an oyster boat.
Surprisingly, Cece finds herself loving the job: working with her hands, breathing the fresh sea air, and learning the ins and outs of oyster farming. And despite her overbearing mother’s pleas to get a “real” job and reunite with her wealthy fiancé, Cece plunges headlong into an ill-advised romance with her neighbor, a handsome shipyard worker named Morgan.
When a proposal to expand the oyster farm throws the community into an uproar, pitting wealthy waterfront owners against blue collar workers, Cece finds herself caught in the middle. And as a family crisis forces her to reevaluate her reckless choices Cece must come to terms with what she’s willing to sacrifice for the life she wants to live.
Women's Fiction Family Life [ Penguin, On Sale: June 16, 2026, Hardcover / e-Book / audiobook, ISBN: 9780593185179 / eISBN: 9780593185186 ]
A native of Nyack, New York, Soon Wiley is the author of the novel When We Fell Apart. He currently teaches English in the Upper School at Greenwich Country Day School, where he also serves as chair of the English department. He resides with his family in Connecticut.
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