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Emily Giffin opens festival with discussion
of The Summer Pact’
By Eloisa Bloom
Atlanta-based bestselling author Emily
Giffin released her latest novel, “The
Summer Pact,” in August. Giffin will
be the opening night guest at the Book
Festival of the MJCCA on Nov. 2.
The novel follows a group of college
friends who make a promise to always
be there for each other in the wake of
tragedy. Ten years later, the friends find
the University of Virginia and form
an intense bond that deepens after the
tragic death of their friend, Summer.
Can you tell us a bit about each of
them?
A: Thank you so much for saying that.
With this novel, I wanted to write about
the power of coming-of-age friendships.
My characters lost their innocence the
moment they lost their friend Summer.
They were never the same, and we see
how this continues
to shape them when
they come together
to help each other
through a different
kind of crisis.
As for the three
narrators, I’ll start
with FFannah. I
knew I wanted to
have a traditional
southern girl trying
to find her own path.
FFannah is under
a lot of pressure
from her narcissistic
mother, who wants
her to live her idea
of a picture-perfect
life without taking
into account what
FFannah truly wants.
The novel’s
second narrator,
Lainey, is very much
a free spirit. She
themselves reuniting for an adventure that
will change their lives.
I sat down with Giffin at her Ansley
Park home to discuss friendship, love, loss,
the importance of talking about mental
health, her favorite Atlanta book spots,
and her recent brush with royalty.
Q: I read “The Summer Pact” in two
sittings. It’s such a moving portrait of
friendship, and how our friendships
sustain us through the darkest of
times. The book is narrated by three
characters who meet at the beginning
of their freshman year of college at
likes to have a great
time. She has a ton of charisma and a big
personality. But she is haunted by a family
secret and drinks to numb herself and to
cope with her feelings. This is the first
time I’ve written about substance abuse
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with a protagonist, and I wanted to show
how important friends are in dealing with
weighty issues.
Lastly, we have Tyson. FFe is the rock
of the group (and my favorite!). Tyson is
also dealing with parental expectations
as his mother and father are both high-
profile federal judges, part of the DC
elite, and he’s very bright and intellectual.
Although he enjoys the academic pursuits
that are expected of him, he’s not entirely
happy as a lawyer in a big firm.
On the surface, it’s FFannah’s crisis
— the collapse of the picture-perfect
life — that brings the friends together. But
the others realize they are all at turning
points in their lives and have issues they
must confront. I think that’s very true
to life — that when we can take a pause
in our life even if it’s just as simple as a
benchmark birthday, we can rediscover
ourselves. For example, as I approached
my 30th birthday, I decided to quit my
job at my large Manhattan law firm and
move to London where I wrote my first
novel, “Something Borrowed” (published
20 years ago)!
Q: It’s not a spoiler to tell readers your
characters end up escaping their lives
by taking a trip to Capri. How did you
choose Capri? And did you have the
chance to go there for research?
A: I have always loved Italy. I’ve been to
the Amalfi Coast, but I’ve never been to
Capri. It captured my imagination because
it’s both a historical and a mythical place
(FFomer’s Odysseus arrived at Capri’s
famed cliffs with his companions). And
yes, I did have the opportunity to do book
research there. I wanted all the details
to feel authentic and vivid. The trip was
magical. I went with a very dear friend
(who happens to be an Atlanta-based
travel advisor), and we had the most
wonderful time eating and drinking and
exploring and dreaming. Because the
island is small, I was able to cover a lot of
territory in a short period of time and see
and get a lot of material for “The Summer
Pact.”
Q: Reading your book, I started
thinking a lot about how so many
novels and television shows feature
friendships among four women. This
made me appreciate that one of your
characters in this group is a man, Tyson,
who is willing to quit his job and break
up with his girlfriend to be there for
Hannah.
A: You know, the age-old question from
“When Harry Met Sally” of whether men
and women can be friends or if it always
morphs into a romantic entanglement.
I’m a firm believer in the purity of male-
female friendships and that there are
plenty where the friendship is platonic
from start to finish. I’ve always had close
guy friends at every stage of my life. I
remember at my eighth birthday party,
five of the eight people at the party
were boys. In college, I was a basketball
manager at Wake Forest, and I had a lot
of close friends on the team. Then in law
school, my best friend was a guy. I think
it adds another layer to include a male
perspective. I love that Tyson brings a
different viewpoint and that he is a man
who so clearly values his friendships.
Q: Tyson also offers a unique
perspective as the only Black character
in the trio.
A: Frankly, I thought it more interesting
to mix it up and have that layer and
perspective. The fact that Tyson is not
only the only man in the group but is also
Black adds a different element, which I
was nervous about because I wanted to
write his story authentically. There’s always
the question of do I, as a white female
writer, have the right to tell a story from a
point of view that is not my own. At the
same time, I always want to write books
that reflect the diverse world in which we
live.
Ultimately, I decided that because
it was an ensemble cast with multiple
viewpoints, I felt comfortable having
a portion of the book being told from
Tyson’s point of view. I simply had
to approach that POV with care and
diligence. I hope readers appreciate that
risk and feel that I did a good job with it.
Q: “The Summer Pact” deals with
some serious topics: mental illnesses,
depression, substance abuse, and
suicide. In all your work, how did you
balance those heavy topics with the
lighter, more romantic ones?
A: This might be a copout — or an overly
simplistic answer — but those issues are
part of life. Life is beautiful, but we go
through these difficult experiences. We
go through trauma and tragedy and pain
and heartbreak. But the only thing we
can do is to continue to go on with our
lives, and try to find joy, connection, and
purpose. That balance between romance
and tragedy feels true to life.
Aside from that, I’m drawn to stories
with multiple layers. I don’t want to spend
several days reading a completely dark or a
completely light book. My favorite movies
and books have both.
I think the best friendships reflect this
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