Bestselling Canadian author Carley Fortune has never been so busy in her life
It’s a great time to be Carley Fortune. The New York Times-bestselling author’s latest novel Our Perfect Storm has just been released, and the much-buzzed about-Amazon Prime Video series adaptation of her hugely popular bestseller Every Summer After — now titled Every Year After — is set to premiere on the streaming service on June 10. “It’s very overwhelming. But it’s, of course, very exciting,” said Fortune, who has been busy finalizing the first draft of her next book before she goes out on the Our Perfect Storm book tour. “I’ve never been so busy in my life.” As for any inside information on that sixth book, the Toronto writer, whose first four novels have sold around 4.5 million copies, is “completely tight lipped,” except to say it will be out in 2027. After many sold-out events on the East Coast of the U.S., Fortune began the Canadian leg of the Our Perfect Storm tour in Toronto on May 13. She’ll be crossing the country after that, before wrapping up on Aug. 15 in Barry’s Bay, Ont., her hometown and the setting for the novels Every Summer After and One Golden Summer. “One thing I hear time and time again (from readers) is that my books got them either into reading or back to reading. It’s been said so many times that even booksellers comment on it too,” said Fortune, who says meeting readers on book tour helps to balance out the lonely existence of a writer. “The audience is very joyful, and it feels like a celebration. I think that’s something quite special.” She also hears how much readers like that she has set her romantic tales in the distinctly Canadian settings of rural Ontario and PEI. Our Perfect Storm places Tofino on the west coast of Vancouver Island on Fortune’s map. “(Canadian) readers thank me for setting my books here over and over again. And then, outside of Canada, people tell me about the trips they want to take to Canada, or the trips that they’ve have taken,” said Fortune adding: “I think it’s the thing that sets my books apart are these transportive settings. And I think it’s one of the top reasons readers love it. Whether you’ve heard of these places or not, and whether you’ve been to them or not, you find yourself there.” For Fortune, it really is about location, location, location. “Every book has started with the setting first. Ideas grow out of the setting,” said Fortune. “I just love trying to capture these places. I think it’s one of the things I love best as a writer. I love trying to bring people there with me, so that you could be reading in your apartment, but still feel like you’re standing on the beach in Tofino. “I really want you to feel like you’re snooping on real people. And I think, when you can really see those people in a place, it helps tremendously.” In Our Perfect Storm, Fortune begins her story in a small rural Ontario waterfront town with kids Frankie and George. Pals since they were eight, Frankie and George have the usual relationship ups and downs, but they usually manage to find their way back to each other. Case in point: a lengthy estrangement leaves Frankie, on the eve of her wedding, wondering if George will show up and fulfill his best man duties. George does appear, and Frankie is relieved and thrilled. But the joy of George re-appearing in her life is soon sidelined when the man she is supposed to marry dumps her, with a note no less, on the morning of the wedding. Destroyed, Frankie returns to the family home to feel all the feels. But her time wallowing is interrupted by George’s appearance and insistence that the pair make use of the already booked honeymoon in Tofino. Frankie agrees, and soon they are in the gorgeous, rugged surroundings of Tofino where they have to weather both environmental and emotional storms. An Ontario native, Fortune discovered Tofino, which is frequently named Canada’s top travel spot and a top global destination, when she moved with her then-boyfriend (now husband) to Victoria where he had an internship at the Times Colonist newspaper and she was hired to be the editor of the University of Victoria’s Martlet newspaper. “I lived on Vancouver Island for almost a year following graduating university,” said Fortune, whose journalism career includes working as editor at Toronto Life magazine, the Globe and Mail, Chatelaine and Refinery 29. “I visited Tofino twice while I was there and fell in love with it. I had never been in a rain forest before.” Fortune, who grew up partially in Australia, had seen some great beaches in her day. But Tofino’s natural beauty hit her like a 10-foot wave. “The beaches were unlike anything I’ve ever seen, so dramatic. And I felt like I was on the edge of the world, which you kind of are. It just stuck with me,” said Fortun,e who points to Tonquin Beach and the local hot springs as her favourite Tofino locations. Flash forward a decade and a half, and Fortune, in search of inspiration, decided to return to Tofino. Once there, she did all the great Tofino activities including whale watching, beachcombing, surfing and just taking in the mightiness of the place perched on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. “I didn’t have a story for it. I wanted something that would match the drama of the place, and that took a little while before I found the right story,” said Fortune. Amazon Prime Video obviously thought Fortune’s first novel Every Summer After was the right story for streaming and is putting all eight episodes up at once, giving viewers a chance to binge it like a great beach read. As for changing the name to Every Year After, Fortune says that happened because the studio wanted something broader than just the summer season to work with. “It’s just one of those things that, when you get into the adaptation process, things change,” said Fortune about the name change. Despite the success of the bestselling book the new series is based on, Fortune was surprised her story made it to camera at all considering the TV/film business slowed a bunch after the writers’ and actors’ strikes of 2023 and a global production contraction. “It was wild. I sold the rights to that book the summer it came out, and with everything that Hollywood has gone through since that time and the industry, it’s kind of one of those things that you think, if it’s happening, that would be great. But I don’t really expect it to happen,” said Fortune. The romantic drama set over six years stars Sadie Soverall as Percy and Matt Cornett as Sam and was shot in the Vancouver area. Fortune visited the set last summer on her way to Tofino. “I’m so grateful to our showrunner. Her name is Amy B Harris. I think she’s done just the most beautiful job of staying emotionally true to the story while expanding it for a series,” said Fortune. After seeing the series, Fortune reports that she was happily surprised to see new additions to her original story. “It’s a delight for me. I’m a fan of it,” said Fortune, who says she doesn’t write for the screen but does “see the stories very visually.” Our Perfect Storm hasn’t been optioned yet, but Fortune says that currently is in the works. Even with so many successful moving parts on the go, Fortune says she still is amazed by her achievements and the acceptance of her work. “It’s all sort of a surprise. I think the fact that I am publishing my fifth book in five years is so surprising to me,” said Fortune. “I didn’t think I would ever publish a book, even when I was writing it. And to have at this point these books, four books under my belt, a fifth on the way, and a readership. I still can’t completely get my head around that.” dgee@postmedia.com
