A Love Letter to My Hometown: On Revisiting Rural New Hampshire in Fiction
The author reflects on their hometown of Newport, New Hampshire, and the complexities of love and longing associated with it. Their debut novel, set in Newport, serves as a love letter to the town, capturing both its charm and the desire to escape. Through the eyes of a teenage girl named Maggie, the narrative explores themes of community, absence, and the bittersweet nature of nostalgia.
- ▪The author grew up in Newport, New Hampshire, a small town with a population of around 6,000.
- ▪Their debut novel is set in Newport and portrays the town as both beloved and complicated.
- ▪The narrative follows a teenage girl named Maggie, who grapples with her mother's absence and her own desire to escape the town.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
As a teenager in my hometown of Newport, New Hampshire, with a population of around 6,000 people, weekend nights began by driving through town. My friends and I would pile into a car, roll the windows down and turn the music up. We’d drive up and down Main Street, past the town hall, past the police station, around the big common and the little common, looking for something to do. If we were lucky, we’d find someone old enough to buy us a six pack of beer. It was the ’90s and we had no cell phones, no social media, no way to know where anyone was except to drive the same loop and hope to find them.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Literary Hub.
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