“I really yearned for my ‘person.’ I felt so isolated and lonely.” 'Every Summer After,' by Carley Fortune “The emotions in those diaries felt raw to me, even 20 years later,” Fortune said. Writing a book, Fortune said, was “not part of the plan.” But in the summer of 2020, Fortune was back in a cottage near Barry’s Bay, reading through old diaries and feeling nostalgic for childhood. The connection is there, but is forgiveness? Following a decade of estrangement, Sam and Percy meet again. And every summer after that, their relationship deepens - until a rupture occurs that Persephone never quite recovers from. A year-rounder, Sam lives next door to Percy’s new cottage. Persephone Fraser first meets Sam Florek on her first day at Barry’s Bay. “In many ways, it is a love letter to where I grew up,” Fortune told TODAY. “Every Summer After,” out May 10, is a moving, redemptive, and undeniably sexy story of second chances at love, set in the lakeside town. She built a career in journalism, and is currently Refinery29 Canada’s executive editor.īut for her first novel, Fortune returned to Barry’s Bay. In the winter, it’s cold and sleepy in the summer, the town swells with cottagers at their vacation homes.įortune grew up working in the restaurant her family owned - and plotting her escape. When Carley Fortune was in fourth grade, her family moved from Australia to a tiny town on a lake two hours west of Ottawa, four hours north of Toronto, Barry’s Bay has a year round population of 1,200.

Sam and percy every summer after