“I am exploring Black joy and Latina joy and exploring friendships,” The View‘s Sunny Hostin tells PEOPLE of her new book
By Karen Mizoguchi
Sunny Hostin is kicking off summer with a new beach read for fans.
On Tuesday, the author, 52, released her debut novel Summer on the Bluffs, which she tells PEOPLE is her “love letter to Black people, Black women and Latina women.” Set in Oak Bluffs, a town located on the island of Martha’s Vineyard and the most exclusive Black beach community in the country, Summer on the Bluffs follows the lives of Amelia Vaux Tanner and her three older godchildren from different backgrounds, whom Amelia considers to be surrogate daughters.
“I love beach reads, but I never see beach reads with people of color. I really wanted to write about characters that have similar lived experiences to my own,” Hostin says. “When I would travel, I would run into the little airport bookstores, and I would look for characters of color on the cover — they just didn’t exist. I thought that if I was looking that maybe other people were looking as well, and Toni Morrison often said, ‘If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.’ “
Below The View co-host shares details about writing her new book and why it was a passion project for her.
PEOPLE: Why did you want to write Summer on the Bluffs?
HOSTIN: I thought, let me write a work of fiction that reflects my world. I wanted to tell a story with Black and Latino characters, front and center, and fill a void because there is such a void in that space. I’m really excited because the few people that I’ve sent the book to were like, ‘Oh my God, I was so thirsty for this.’ I think, at this time in our country, especially, people want something fun and sexy with sand and secrets, and I’m just happy to have tapped into it at the right time.
Are any anecdotes or storylines inspired by your own life?
Much of the book is fiction. But I definitely used my own experiences as a frame of reference. And I will say that I used a lot of my friends as prototypes for it. Some of my friends were like, ‘Wow, Perry sounds a lot like you, but Olivia sounds a lot like me.’ And that part is probably true. In terms of Ama, I find that it seems that, especially after speaking with women like Whoopi [Goldberg] who’s in her 60s and just so incredible, and Joy [Behar], who’s in her 70s. They often have said, it seems like women just get written off. That’s unfortunate because we’re here, and we’re vibrant. We’re alive, and we’re having incredible adventures. I also wanted to write those stories as well. Because there’s something for every generation in this book, much like The View.
Read this article on People.com.