Saltwater: A Guest Post by Katy Hays

From the author of The Cloisters comes the suspenseful story of a family haunted by its past and torn apart by paranoia after long-hidden secrets come to light. Read on for an exclusive essay from Our Monthly Pick author Katy Hays on writing Saltwater.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Cloisters comes a slow-burn psychological drama about an opulent family that unravels when a decades-old crime resurfaces.

As writers we spend more time in the world of our novels than we ever do on vacation, so I try to set my books in a locale I’m happy to revisit for several years (I don’t know if you’ve heard, but writing a book is a long process!). In the case of Saltwater I was drawn to the island of Capri, not for its ubiquitous celebrity sightings (Bennifer! Leo! Yachts! Sparklers!) but for the island’s rich artistic history (Painters! Writers! Dancers!); this felt like the perfect backdrop for a novel about an aspiring playwright whose life is cut tragically short. The natural environment of the island—peppered with blond cliffs, unexpectedly spikey cacti, and vibrant nocturnal goings-on—only added to its allure. Plus, there was the promise of a research trip!

But in truth, the choice of Capri was about more than readymade glitz. I had long thought of Natalie Wood’s death as a touchstone for Saltwater, not just because her tragedy happened off the coast of another island around the same time as my character, but because it was an example of the long shadow an event can cast over a family—even if, or especially when, they are exonerated of any wrongdoing. The suspicions, rumors, and implications that still swirl around Wood’s death were, in many ways, the template for what my fictional family, the Lingates, experience after the accidental death of Sarah Lingate. Such violent and unexpected events can define us long after we’ve decided to move on, because often, while we’re ready for a new narrative the public is not.

It’s into this environment that Helen Lingate, the Lingate heir apparent, and Lorna, the family’s assistant, find themselves thrust while on vacation on Capri. Both women want the same thing—to survive the family and the scrutiny—but they’ll need each other to do so. It would be so easy, in the case of the Lingates, to focus on the men at the center of the scandal, but it’s the women who drive the action of the novel; it’s the women who are the most adept liars and performers. And in the case of Helen and Lorna, they’re about to give the performance of a lifetime, their success at which will determine if they live or die.

In the world of Saltwater and on the island of Capri nothing is quite as it seems. Lest of all our heroines.