We chat with author Summer N. England about The Impossible Garden of Clara Thorne, which is a sweet and spicy cozy romantasy debut where love grows in the most unimaginable of places, perfect for fans of The Spellshop and For Whom the Belle Tolls!
Hi, Summer! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Summer N. England is indeed her real name (and yes, you are allowed to poke fun at her about this). She holds not one, nay, two degrees in Shakespeare and Performance and is currently an actress, author, and digital content creator.
When not blabbering on stage and writing off stage, Summer can be found doing quite literally 17,000 different ADHD-motivated projects around her 1940s farmhouse where she resides with her gardening-obsessed, book-loving son.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
Storytelling has been a part of my life ever since I can remember. Books were my companions growing up, and I was a Certified Literature Nerd from the start – always writing essays and, eventually, a thesis. My professional life has been solely centered on storytelling. I am a full-time classical actress with the American Shakespeare Center and was a professor in the English/Theatre department at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Sufficient to say: storytelling keeps my lights on. The impetus of loving it is hard to track as it has always been and always will be within me.
When my literary agent reached out to me many moons ago, it catapualted me into the author-life. I can’t imagine starting my days without writing stories now.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Once Upon A Marigold by Jean Ferris
- The one that made you want to become an author: The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George
Your debut novel, The Impossible Garden of Clara Thorne, is out April 7th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Learning to let love in.
What can readers expect?
Expect plenty of chaos-gardening, cozy moments amidst adventure, sapphic spice, whimsical magic, and a surly hedgehog that is plum full of surprises.
Where did the inspiration for The Impossible Garden of Clara Thorne come from?
I grew up farming a small patch of land with my grandfather in Kentucky. Gardening is in my bones. In 2023, I scored a job working at a proper farm and, whilst weeding broccolini beds, I thought to myself, “This would be more fun with a hedgehog companion… and a muscle mommy who is obsessed with me.” I began writing that day.
Fast forward a few years and now here we are.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Clara Thorne has my heart. In many ways, she is my heart. She is irascible and hard to deal with; she pushes people away; she is fighting tooth and nail to carve out a sense of happiness that only she can control and no one can take way; she is trying. So hard. All the time.
I enjoyed digging deep into her story to unearth the tenderness she guards so fiercely. My favorite stories follow the not-so-full-of-sunshine women and to be able to craft Clara’s heartache and heart-happiness was a true gift.
Other than dear Clara, I adored writing the town of Lore (keep your eye out for mermaids!).
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
My biggest challenge was that I am a divorced, working mom and writing this with a three year old on my lap was not always easy. There were many too-early mornings, squeaking in what writing I could before my kiddo was awake. There were several late nights, eyes barely open, trying to give this story everything I could. I did not always feel my best, most present self while writing this story, and I had to let go of the idea of perfection in order to prevent burn-out. But Impossible Garden gave me a source of light even in the darker moments. It was in the creation of the world and characters waiting for me to tell their story that kept me typing even on the hard days. I showed up for myself; even if I didn’t always show out.
This is your debut novel! What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?
A wild road, indeed. There was not a part of this process that was “typical”. My literary agent found me through TikTok during a time where I was retelling my journals and garnered a lot of attention based on storytelling. She was not the first literary agent who offered representation based on TikTok, but she was the only one that made me take a second to consider the possibility. After meeting with her – call it kismet, call it fate, call it what you will – I knew we would be creating stories together..
From there, I began writing a RomCom memoir but it died on submission (thank god, I did not enjoy writing about myself). Then, there was Impossible Garden right after that. I drafted the story in about two months, edited through the summer, went on submission, and landed myself at auction. I was about to go on stage to perform Macbeth when I got the call. Shockingly, I still had to perform that night even though my life irrevocably changed. Shakespeare and I now have beef.
What’s next for you?
Writing. Performing. Traveling. Gardening. Restoring my farmhouse. Hanging with my kiddo.
I’m working on three novels. I have endless backlogs of more. I write every single morning. This summer, I’ll head into playing Rosalind in As You Like It fresh off of the heels of playing Viola in Twelfth Night. I’m excited to infuse my unnecessarily large head canon of Shakespeare scholarship into a romance novel at some point. I’m even more excited to pull up carrots in the garden my kiddo and I built.
What’s next, you ask? Well, I hope more of the same.
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up this year?
Cozy murder mysteries from my local second-hand bookshop and Moss’d in Space by Rebecca Thorne.
