We had the opportunity to talk with Lily Brooks-Dalton, author of The Light Pirate (12/6, Grand Central Publishing) in advance of her December 8 in-person event (click here for ticket information) in conversation with store co-founder Judy Blume and store manager Emily Berg at Hugh’s View at The Studios of Key West. We are wildly excited about meeting Lily and can’t recommend The Light Pirate enough (it is also our featured staff pick for December)!
Q: How did you arrive at the story you tell in The Light Pirate? Did you start out with a specific goal or idea or character?
A: I was actually here in Key West when I first started ruminating on preparing for storms and wondering whether there was a story I wanted to tell wrapped up in that rhythm. I was doing a residency at The Studios of Key West and there was a hurricane coming that didn’t end up hitting the Keys, but there was this palpable tension in the air that I kept coming back to. And then I started thinking about linemen, and all this labor that goes into keeping the lights on… so probably the first concrete story moment I had was imagining this little girl tagging along on storm duty with her father, waiting for him in the bucket truck while he worked on the downed lines. That exact scene didn’t actually make it into the book, but that was where I began. And the story grew from there.
Q: The book is told from the perspective of more than a few characters. Was there one you think of as your protagonist?
A: I think of Wanda as my protagonist. The book begins on the day she’s born (I guess technically the day before) and it spans her lifetime, so even though we’re also following the people around her, I’d say she is at the center.
Q: You’re from Florida but now living in California. Did you ever think of telling this story from a West Coast perspective?
A: Well, I actually grew up in Vermont. I struck out on my own fairly young, and right around that time my parents decided to relocate. So Florida has always been my home base as an adult, but I’m not sure I get to say I’m from here. I started working on The Light Pirate about a year before I moved to California. At that point I was actually living out of my truck and traveling around, but I had just spent a big chunk of time in Florida and so the landscape was still very fresh for me. I didn’t even consider setting it somewhere else, Florida was at the heart of the idea from the start.
Q: What was the process like seeing Good Morning, Midnight go from book to film? Could you see The Light Pirate as a movie?
A: It was extraordinary. It’s hard to describe really, beyond saying that it was special and weird and it had a resounding impact on my life. I’m really grateful that it happened. As for The Light Pirate, if we were to do an adaptation, I see it as a TV show. There is more story to tell in this world than even the book contains, and I wouldn’t want to shrink down what is already on the page to fit it into a 2 hour container. I would want to let it expand and breathe! So, I think television offers more space to let something like this unfold.
Q: What are you reading and recommending these days?
A: I just finished Dinosaurs by Lydia Millet, which I liked very much, and then I will also recommend Beneficence by Meredith Hall. I read it a while ago but I’m still thinking about how gorgeous it was. And I also want to chat up The Water Will Come by Jeff Goodell, which is nonfiction, because it has a terrific Florida chapter and just in general was a text that I really valued and learned a lot from while I was working on the novel.
Grace soon learns that the suitcase belonged to a woman named Eleanor Trigg, leader of a ring of female secret agents who were deployed out of London during the war. Twelve of these women were sent to Occupied Europe as couriers and radio operators to aid the resistance, but they never returned home–their fates confidential. Setting out to learn the truth behind the women in the photographs, Grace finds herself drawn to a young mother-turned-agent named Marie, whose daring mission overseas reveals a remarkable story of friendship, valor, and betrayal.
Friday, April 19, at 6pm, a presentation and book signing with Jason Dewees, author of DESIGNING WITH PALMS.
The book includes beautiful photos of gardens and native palm habitat in South Florida from Miami to Key West to Naples, as well as in California, South Carolina, Georgia, and Hawai`i. Celebrated Miami landscape architect, Raymond Jungles, said about the book, “Contains virtually everything you need to know about these plants and their usage in gardens. This is the go-to book.”
Q. For THE LOST PRINCE, in specific, why did you want to share this story? What do you hope readers will take away from it?
Books and Books @ the Studios will host a discussion and book signing with Ann Beattie to launch her new novel, A WONDERFUL STROKE OF LUCK on April 9th at 6pm.
Thursday, March 28, at 6pm, a reading and book signing with Joan Jacobs Brumberg, author of FASTING GIRLS & THE BODY PROJECT. Join us for a fascinating and timely discussion about women, girls, body image and social change.
Tuesday, April 9, at 6pm, a book launch party and book signing with Ann Beattie, author of 
At a boarding school in New Hampshire, Ben joins the honor society led by Pierre LaVerdere, an enigmatic, brilliant, yet perverse teacher who instructs his students not only about how to reason, but how to prevaricate. As the years go by, LaVerdere’s covert and overt instruction lingers in his students’ lives as they seek some sense of purpose or meaning. Ben feels the pace of his life accelerating and views his intimate relationships as less and less fulfilling; there seems to be a subtext he’s not able to access. And what, really, did Bailey Academy teach him?
Hearing Susan Conley, author of