Emily Giffin on Her Most Courageous Novel Yet, The Summer Pact

When it comes to dream I’d Rather Be Reading guests—I’m talking about names at the top of the vision board—Emily Giffin would be right there at the apex. Yes, this is a nonfiction books podcast, but I do read fiction from time to time, and one fiction author whose books I never miss is Emily Giffin, my No. 1 favorite fiction writer of all time. I actually met Emily at a book signing in the summer of 2016 in Nashville—at Draper James, Reese Witherspoon’s boutique—and Emily changed my life. At that time, I was freelance writing some, but hadn’t yet taken the leap to become a full-time writer. During the book signing, I mentioned something about wanting to be a writer to Emily, and even though lines at book signings move pretty quickly, she took a moment to give me words of wisdom I never forgot—and signed my book and told me to not give up and to keep writing. The next year, 2017, I became a full-time writer, and am now a senior editor at a major fashion magazine as we speak here in 2024. It’s really incredible what one inspiring encounter can do—and Emily, I loved you before meeting you in 2016, and I loved you even more after. Actually, I’ll get to see Emily again in person this week, at a book signing in Atlanta for Emily’s latest, The Summer Pact, her twelfth novel—which is the book we’re talking about on the show today. The title of the book is so powerful, and not at all what I was expecting. Emily’s latest is full of so many plot twists, and, while many of her books focus on love and romance, the crux of this book is friendship—although, don’t get me wrong, there’s still definitely some love and romance in here. As I tell Emily in our conversation, I think The Summer Pact is her bravest and most courageous work; she tackles some heavy-hitting topics here, topics she’s never tackled before in any of her books prior. In this book we meet Lainey, Tyson, Summer, and Hannah, who all arrive at college from completely different worlds. They soon become a tight group of friends, but, as graduation nears, tragedy strikes, and they make a promise to one another in that moment to always be there for each other, no matter how much distance or circumstance separates them. Then, a decade later, life turns upside down for one of our characters. She calls in her closest friends, who are all in the midst of their own crossroads. But they made a promise, and they all come together to embark on a shared journey of self-discovery, forgiveness, and acceptance, with, as I said, so many twists and turns along the way, including a trip to Capri, Italy, which has risen to the top of my travel bucket list. Just like I had a different career before I became a full-time writer, so did Emily—after graduating from Wake Forest and the University of Virginia School of Law, Emily was a practicing attorney for several years before moving to London to write full-time. Since then, 12 novels followed—Something Borrowed, which was turned into a feature film with Ginnifer Goodwin and Kate Hudson; Something Blue; Baby Proof; Love the One You’re With; Heart of the Matter; Where We Belong; The One and Only; First Comes Love; All We Ever Wanted; The Lies That Bind; Meant to Be; and, now, The Summer Pact. I am such a fan, and I can’t wait for you to hear our conversation.

The Summer Pact by Emily Giffin