We chat with author Caitlin Shetterly about The Gulf of Lions, which is a standalone and evocative sequel about a mother who, recovering from the trauma of breast cancer and a mastectomy, takes a once-in-a-lifetime trip across France with her two daughters. In France, she finds out what it means to fully live.
Hi, Caitlin! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I think the most defining thing about me is that I am a mother to two resilient, smart and kind boys, ages 17 and 11. I have loved raising them and it’s been my first job. It still is! My second job has been writing, which I do around the edges…I write novels now, though I have published two books of nonfiction, Made for You and Me and Modified and one book of short stories, Fault Lines, which I collected and edited.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I have always been a writer. For a long time, I wanted to be an actor; but even during acting school and auditions and all that comes with that life, I was always writing in my head, in notebooks, and selling pieces until…it became undeniable that people might give me a few pesos for writing, whereas acting was going to be a whole other kind of climb to start to hit it.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Charlotte’s Web*
- The one that made you want to become an author: Charlotte’s Web*
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Charlotte’s Web *
* Not joking. That first sentence, “Where’s Papa going with that ax?” this is a story of empathy and love, of the hardship of life and why death comes for us all. It’s also story about growing up, family, connection and it’s about the importance of the natural world—this book has it all, and there is not one single word out of place. It’s a book for anyone and everyone—no one is left out. I dream to one day be told I wrote the Charlotte’s Web of my time.
Your latest novel, The Gulf of Lions, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
After cancer, mother travels France.
What can readers expect?
Expect an epic story of mothers and daughters, a story of love and sensuality, a story of France’s Mediterranean Sea and its farmlands and mountains, a story of beautiful food and beautiful people. This this is a story of family and marriage and the mistakes we all can make with our kids, with our partners. Expect to have your heart crushed and to cry and yet, also, come out of this book brave enough to love more, and harder.
Where did the inspiration for The Gulf of Lions come from?
I first realized I was going to write this book when I was traveling around France with my husband and two sons. I’d already written Pete and Alice in Maine, and I remember thinking, Gosh, I need Alice to come here. I need her to bring her daughters, Sophie and Iris. So, I started writing the book a year later—yes it took that long to get started! And once I did though, it poured right out of me. I loved writing this book. I finished it, crying, my hands doing the work my brain hadn’t yet processed.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I love writing kids. I loved writing Sophie and Iris. I have two boys, and though the genders really are so much more fluid than culture wants us to think, since I don’t have girls, I loved getting to know these two spunky, wonderful girls. I feel a bit like I have two imaginary daughters, and that’s just a gift to me.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
Six months after I finished my book, a book in which I had meticulously researched my main character, Alice’s, experience with breast cancer in her left breast, I was diagnosed with the exact same kind of cancer in the same breast. This broke my 4th wall and made me feel, for a time, very unmoored. It also made me realize how important it was to get my novel out there which tells the story of a woman who has recovered from cancer, and is not just surviving, but thriving. There are too few books about women surviving cancer. We need those stories.
What’s next for you?
I am really excited to dive into my new novel which will braid a bit of a college story, and a mother/son story, and also a bit of a historical story–I am excited and ready to take on a large task, and I love doing research, which this book requires. So that will be fun.
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up? Any you’ve read so far this year that you’ve enjoyed?
I will read anything by Allegra Goodman—Isola was the best book of 2025, hands down. I want to read American Fantasy by Emma Straub as my dessert when I finish my book tour, and I can’t wait for Elizabeth’s Strout’s new novel, Things We Never Say and Ann Patchett’s Whistler.
But the writer who has captured my heart and is up there, in my opinion, with Shakespeare and Jane Austen, who will be revered as the best writer of our time, is Niall Williams. I will read everything and anything that man writes. He is a genius.
