Behind The Page: Carley Fortune
- Ingrid Rivera
- Jan 26, 2024
- 6 min read
Every author leaves an indelible mark on the literary world. Whether that mark is good or bad is often determined by the sum of the author's works and the author themselves. As we read our Busy Bee Book Club Book of the Month, Every Summer After, it is impossible not to fall in love with author Carley Fortune and her wonderfully woven work. But before we dive into the beautifully written novels by Mrs. Fortune, we will explore the path that brought her to her literary success.
A Look at the Past
Carley Fortune moved to Toronto in 2002 when she began studying at the Toronto Metropolitan University School of Journalism. She would go on to graduate in 2006 with her Bachelor of Journalism and move to Victoria, where she would begin work as the Editor-in-Chief of The Martlet, The University of Victoria student paper. Throughout the years following her Time at The Martlet, Fortune would go on to serve as an intern and later full-time online editor at Toronto Life, head of the Life content section of The Grid, part of the Life and Style section at the Globe and Mail, deputy editor, and later Editor-in-Chief, of Chatelaine, and finally Executive Editor of Refinery29 Canada. Throughout her impressive career in journalism, which spanned from her graduation in 2006 through the end of her time as Executive Editor of Refinery29 Canada in 2021, Fortune became well-known in her field. Fortune is an award-winning journalist today, but her accomplishments do not end there.
In an interview with Jaclyn Mika, who graduated from the same alma mater as Fortune in 2008, for the Toronto Metropolitan University's Grads at Work series, which highlights profiles of University alums, Fortune reveals that she met her husband during her time at the University. The two have two sons, and the family currently resides in Toronto. Yet, throughout her early years, Fortune spent much of her time in Sydney, Australia, and in Barry's Bay, a location that any reader that has completed---or even begun---her debut novel, Every Summer After, will recognize as the book's setting.
"A Radiant Debut"
Fortune made her breakthrough in the literary realm with her 2021 debut novel (and our January 2024 Busy Bee Book Club Book of the Month), Every Summer After. For those who missed our Book of the Month post earlier this month, the novel's synopsis is below.
They say you can never go home again, and for Persephone Fraser, ever since she made the biggest mistake of her life a decade ago, that has felt too true. Instead of glittering summers on the lakeshore of her childhood, she spends them in a stylish apartment in the city, going out with friends, and keeping everyone a safe distance from her heart. Until she receives the call that sends her racing back to Barry’s Bay and into the orbit of Sam Florek—the man she never thought she’d have to live without. For six summers, through hazy afternoons on the water and warm summer nights working in his family’s restaurant and curling up together with books—medical textbooks for him and work-in-progress horror short stories for her—Percy and Sam had been inseparable. Eventually that friendship turned into something breathtakingly more, before it fell spectacularly apart. When Percy returns to the lake for Sam’s mother’s funeral, their connection is as undeniable as it had always been. But until Percy can confront the decisions she made and the years she’s spent punishing herself for them, they’ll never know whether their love might be bigger than the biggest mistakes of their past. Told over the course of six years and one weekend, Every Summer After is a big, sweeping nostalgic look at love and the people and choices that mark us forever. Six summers to fall in love. One moment to fall apart. A weekend to get it right. |
The title of this section is a direct quote from the cover of the novel (not the one pictured above) and is from Emily Henry, New York Times bestselling author of Book Lovers, Beach Read, and People We Meet on Vacation. With such high praise from a renown author such as Henry, the bar is set high for Fortune to meet the mark. And Every Summer After is undoubtedly a success in that regard. Fortune has made comments about how the book offered her an escape during a difficult time and one in which she felt nostalgic for her childhood in Barry's Bay. A theme witch is captured as her main characters experience their childhood in the same setting as the author herself as they grow into their adulthood.
The novel's immediate success and reputation for being an easy read---a testament to the author's writing and the progression of the story---was a shock to the author herself, who found herself on the New York Times best-sellers list. In addition to that, she also found herself on the Globe and Mail bestselling author list, an achievement which we are sure brought back fond memories of her time at the publication. It is a story of a second chance romance between two very flawed and human characters who are thrust together by fate and forced to face the regrets of their past. The book is both an escape and an exploration of the changes that come through life and love as we mature. And it is another amazing aspect of the book that it manages to capture the real life issues and views of the characters throughout the years from bullying and small-town escapism when their thirteen to the budding romance that develops and its eventual fallout in their late teens, and finally to their fateful return to their childhood haven as adults.
A Rising Star
They say that the first time is seldom the easiest. You have fears going into something new---will it work? Will it be liked? Is it good? Will I fail?---and seldom do you see the intended result. However, for Mrs. Fortune, it seems the opposite was in fact the case. In many interviews conducted following the release and widespread popularity that followed Every Summer After, the author felt herself grateful that her team had urged and pushed her to have a draft of her sophomore novel ready to go and turned in before its release. She explains that it takes a weight off your shoulders when you are able to know that your next work exists and you do not have to stress out during the wiring process fueled by the reception of your debut. Advice which she credits her amazing team for and which she claims has been the difference in the formation of her second novel. With this is mind, Fortune's follow-up to Every Summer After, Meet Me at the Lake, released in May of 2023.
The release of Meet Me at the Lake was met with just as much fervor and love from readers, if not more, than Every Summer After. The book features the similar theme of a second chance romance but offers an entirely fresh and unique story. Where Every Summer After builds on a relationship over the years and then finds the characters thrust back together int he present, Meet Me at the Lake flips the script. The main characters have a chance encounter in the past over a 24-hour window and then do n to find each there again until a decade later when fate brings them back together. So while Every Summer After is a story very much rooted int he past, Meet Me at the Lake finds the love story unfolding in the present, While still carrying the authors signature alternating timelines format as you live out the present simultaneously as you learn of the past.
Fast-forward to a year later, readers can now look forward to the upcoming release of Fortune's third novel, This Summer Will Be Different. A story that once again builds throughout the years over fateful encounters and culminates as the characters are forced to face the realities of their complicated situation (did someone say best friend's brother?). This Summer Will Be Different releases May 7, 2024.
A Bright Future
It was only a short time following the release of Meet me at the Lake in May of 2023, that Fortune, who reveals in an interview with Sarah Laing of the Toronto Star to have been on her annual summer retreat in Barry's Bay itself, received a text that would once again change her life. The text contained a link to an article which revealed that the author's sophomore novel, just three months into its release had been slated to be adapted into a film by Netflix. But the news didn't end there. Fortune also learned that Archewell, the organization formed by the Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, wills serve as the production company behind the film adaptation. Talk about rising to the top.
However, Fortune, a seasoned veteran of the journalism and media worlds, was well prepared to navigate the added attention and notoriety that not only a film announcement, but one connected to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, would bring upon her. It is a journey of hard-earned success and one which Mrs. Fortune has expressed repeated gratitude for. Anyone who has ready either of her two released novels can attest that Fortune is a master at crafting a heart warming story that will offer an escape to the nostalgia of summers long past. The author also revealed on a recent Instagram post from November 2023 that she was well into the first draft of her forthcoming fourth novel. And we, for one, cannot wait to see what the future holds for Fortune and her characters.
Connect With the Author
Readers can keep up to date and learn more about Fortune, her works, forthcoming releases, and upcoming events by visiting her website carleyfortune.com.
You an also follow the author on her various social media platforms to keep up to date.
Instagram: @carleyfortune
Gooodreads: Carley Fortune
X (formerly Twitter): @CarleyFortune
REMEMBER TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE BOOK HIVE AND COME BACK THIS UPCOMING WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2024 FOR OUR OFFICIAL REVIEW OF EVERY SUMMER AFTER.
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