Our Exclusive Interview with Bestselling Author Luanne Rice

Luanne Rice is one of the biggest bestselling authors in the world — and it’s no wonder. Her books are page-turners filled with easy-to-relate-to family dynamics, lots of love and warmth, beautiful beach settings and, often, deep secrets. Her latest, The Silver Boat, is no exception. After finishing it in a please-don’t-bother-me reading marathon, I couldn’t wait to ask Luanne a few questions. You can ask her one, too, below, and enter to win a copy of The Silver Boat. Just don’t start reading it unless you have nothing to do the rest of the day!

There’s little doubt The Silver Boat will be another bestseller – it’s got your signature blend of family, love and the ocean all wrapped up in an unputdownable story! I can’t believe you’ve written 29 novels – I’m pretty sure I’ve read every single one! Each book is completely its own story with its own personality but how do you keep the process fresh for yourself? Does it get more difficult? Has your writing routine changed over time?

You are wonderful and so kind to say!  In a sense, writing gets easier as one gets older … with any luck the writer accrues some wisdom and perspective along the way, and she can bring that to her work.  My writing routine has changed a little. I let myself sleep later; I used to have a talismanic and somewhat whip-cracker need to be at my desk and writing by 7 a.m.  Now I roll over and trust the muse will visit me when the sun’s up a little higher.

Every time I read one of your books, I feel like I gain a new family! Family is so important in all your stories, and you have such a unique way of making your readers feel like part of the characters’ family. Can you tell us a little about what family means to you, and share a little about your own?

I love you more with each question!  Family is and will always be my main inspiration.  Family dynamics are so tender, delicate, and mysterious.  They can also be brutal — no one hurts us more than the ones we love most.  As much as you think you know each other, every parent, every sister has secrets and hiding places.  That was certainly true in my family.  Our house was small, but it was a mansion of secrets.  So much love, but often such a hard time connecting, especially with my father.

Sisters are an especially significant relationship in your books, and I always appreciate mine even more while reading. Which of the sisters do you most relate to in The Silver Boat? Why?

Darrah McCarthy, the oldest sister.  Probably because I’m an oldest sister too.  I share Dar’s deep and protective love of her younger sisters, her unbreakable attachment to their family home, and a few human frailties as well.

I love all your beach settings, and was ready to move to Martha’s Vineyard while reading The Silver Boat. What role does the beach and the sea play in your own life?

I was so lucky to grow up spending summers at my grandmother’s salty beach cottage on Long Island Sound.  My sisters and I would be barefoot, on the beach, in the marsh, on the rock ledge, from morning till dark.  Meals were such an intrusion, when all we wanted to do was be in the water, swimming and playing, or inventing new and improved ways to ruckus around with our friends.

Expanding on that a little, nature often takes a starring role in your books and, as your Facebook friend, I see that happens in your real life, too. You write the most beautiful, peaceful status updates about the sky, the birds, whatever you see out your window. Where did you develop your love and appreciation for nature?

Thank you. I grew up loving nature from as far back as I can remember. The beach in the summer, the woods in the winter.  I’ve always loved birds and wildlife, and early on became a conservationist.  That continues now, even more so.  Our beautiful planet is so fragile, and out of balance.  Working for the environment is important to me.  I’m a member of NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council.)  They have a BioGems program your readers might enjoy; you can visit the site and click to help save polar bears, whales, migratory birds, and other creatures.  Also, Robert Redford, a devoted environmentalist and longtime NRDC trustee, speaks eloquently about the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, and what we might do to prevent another oil spill.

Your books have been set in so many beautiful places, I could happily plan a travel itinerary around them! Do you visit all the places you write about? Is there someplace you’re dying to visit – and/or write about?

I do visit all the places I write about. While there I’m usually so inspired I file my impressions away, to use as a setting later.  I would so love to visit the Arctic Circle, Greenland, perhaps, or Baffin Island.  I long to see the ice while it is still there …

As real and easy to relate to as your stories are, there’s always some little bit of magic or fantasy in them that takes readers to a whole new place. Can you talk about that a little? Do you do that intentionally? Is it just a natural element of your approach to life? To storytelling?

It might come from being Irish.  Irish people know the veil is thin between this world and the next.  Life is poetry, and hearts speak to hearts.

You are so beloved to so many readers. What do your fans write to you about?

I am so honored and humbled by what my readers write to me.  They tell me about their lives — sometimes the deepest and most painful parts.  Sometimes they tell me my novels have helped them through terrible times.  Their letters make me cry.

What are you working on now?

I have a monologue as part of a play, Motherhood Out Loud, being produced at Primary Stages in New York this fall.  I’m also involved in producing the film, Dream Country, from a script I wrote with Jayce Bartok — an adaption of my novel of the same title.  Mostly I’m working on a new novel that starts with a crime, continues with an unexpected visitor, and contains threads of estrangement, lost love, and the kind of deep love a person can have for someone she’s never even met.

We have beautiful beaches here in San Diego. Maybe you’d like to set a book here and come out to do some research! We’d love to meet you!

I adore San Diego, and will be there on book tour at Warwick’s in La Jolla on April 28. A friend of mine, Kevin Boyles, grew up at Point Loma. He steers me toward beautiful places to visit. Right now, I’m looking at one of his spectacular photographs, framed on my office wall, of surfers riding an iridescent wave at Sunset Cliffs.

For a chance to win a copy of The Silver Boat, simply leave a comment below. Contest ends on April 24 at midnight Pacific time. Winner will be notified by return email.

Author photo credit below: Adrian Kinloch