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Audrey Ingram is the author of The Summer We Ran, which is available now.
Audrey Ingram is the author of The River Runs South and The Group Trip. She is a graduate of Middlebury College and Georgetown University Law Center, and she practiced law in Washington, D.C., for fifteen years. When not writing, she can be found digging in her garden or hiking the Blue Ridge mountains. An Alabama native, Audrey currently lives in Virginia with her husband and three children.
The Summer We Ran features a gorgeous cover, and a very intriguing story. Told through multiple perspectives, rich with emotion and immersive dual timelines, The Summer We Ran weaves together a story of lost love, devastating secrets, shocking sabotage, and the painstaking decision two people must make in order to fulfill the futures they each desire.
1. What are some of your favorite novels?
My childhood favorites are Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
More recent favorites include Beartown by Fredrik Backman, Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, and Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy.
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams, The Love of My Life by Rosie Walsh, and Half-Blow Rose by Leesa Cross-Smith are all emotional romance books that I adore.
2. When did you know you wanted to become an author?
I always wanted to write, but with a legal career and three children, I didn’t think it was a dream within possibility. During thepandemic, like many families with young children, we struggled and ultimately pivoted. I paused my legal career while I stayed at home with our children. I found myself stealing moments to write, in the early morning hours before my children woke or in between naptimes that were always too short. Imagining the possibility of becoming an author was a joyful pursuit during a time of personal and global upheaval. It still feels surreal that somehow this daydream has become a reality.
3. What inspired you to write The Summer We Ran?
Four years ago, I spent summer days piling my kids in the car and setting off on adventures throughout Virginia: hiking the Blue Ridge Mountains, discovering quaint small towns, and cooling off in local swimming holes. On our drives home, I started plotting this novel, a sweeping romance about first loves turned political rivals, set in the beautiful places I had just explored.
I worked on a gubernatorial campaign in high school and fell hard for the drama and passion that surround elections. Nostalgic for shows like The West Wing and Scandal, I began weaving together an unlikely love story between opposing candidates forced to confront their past.
4. Why was it important for the novel to feature multiple narratives and timelines?
This novel is about the experiences that bind us together and the differences that threaten to tear us apart. Tess and Grant share a deeply complicated relationship, first falling in love as teenagers and then years later becoming political rivals. Their backgrounds, families, experiences, fears, and dreams all swirl together to shape who they become. By sharing each character’s narrative, in both the past and present, my hope is that the reader can understand and even connect with two very different perspectives.
5. What was your favorite chapter or part to write?
My favorite chapters to write were the scenes where Tess and Grant fall in love as teenagers. I wanted to whisk the reader away to theluscious Virginia countryside and the buzzing anticipation of longing and vulnerability that surround a first love experience.
6. What are you currently reading and what’s on your TBR (to be read) list?
I recently read Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy. It’s a novel that’s breathtakingly beautiful, emotionally devastating, and I can’t stop recommending it to everyone I meet.
Two of my favorite authors have new releases coming out: Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid and My Friends by Frederik Backman. I’ve also got a summer TBR pile overflowing with emotional romances I can’t wait to enjoy at the beach. Carley Fortune’s One Golden Summer, Annabel Monaghan’s It’s a Love Story, and Kristy Woodson Harvey’s Beach House Rules are all at the top of thestack.
