A few months ago, Tommy and I fled the Texas heat to babymoon in Traverse City and Leelanau County, Michigan, the setting of my novel The Honest Lies. If you’re unfamiliar with the term “babymoon,” think celebration vacation with a child who can’t scream or blow out diapers yet. 

Whenever a reader asks why I set my book in northern Michigan, I tend to panic. I’ve never lived there. In fact, before penning the novel I had been in the state a whopping one time. Even that had been a whirlwind vacation with my mom and oldest sister to visit Mackinac Island and The Grand Hotel (cue theme song from Somewhere in Time). 

I tend to write about places I’m familiar with, but occasionally a place profoundly connects with you. I was enchanted with the cold, wild, up-north beauty of Michigan. It had so much personality of its own – deep lakes, glorious sunsets, forests and farmland. It seemed like such a pensive place to call home – geography that has seen it all but still carries its memories well. 

Turns out, the setting provided just the mood needed to tell a story about deception and secrets. 

Lakeshore

The beauty of the area is varied to staggering proportions. As the book describes, “Within the miles separating their little apartment from Lake Michigan there existed both wetlands and hardwood forests, sand dunes and beaches. It remained so cold that Megan still wore her fleece jacket in the middle of June. On Lane’s days off they canoed on Glen Lake or hiked the sand dunes up to Pyramid Point to watch the sun fade over the water.”

Our first sight-seeing stop was Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore where 35 miles of sandy shoreline stretch 450 feet above Lake Michigan. It’s not every day you come across naturally occurring mountains of sand, so the dune climb comes highly recommended. I wheezed my way to the top of one summit and called it a day, but the hiking potential is endless. 

Glen Arbor

While in the area, we stopped at the famous Art’s Tavern for lunch. Gill’s Pub in chapter 21 is based off of this quirky spot for burgers and whitefish sandwiches. It was just as colorful as I had imagined!

Nearby Glen Lake is as stunning in real-life as it was in the tourist brochures.

The Apartment

Despite the natural outdoor beauty, so much of the initial build of The Honest Lies takes place inside Jack Murphy’s apartment. You’ll find him returning to the window in many scenes. He’s always on the inside looking out, a prisoner of his own perceived mistakes. A man left behind to watch the world go on apart from him.

“At night with the lights turned out, Jack sat in his chair by the open window. Next to him, whiskey grew cold against ice. He hadn’t drunk much, only a few sips. Despite a desire to relax and perhaps nod off early, he felt too sober tonight. Too aware.” 

Strangely, Tommy and I weren’t invited to any apartments while visiting Traverse City, but I pictured something simple and a little ugly, like one of our apartments when first married.

Traverse City

When not exploring the coastline, Tommy and I spent time on Front Street in downtown Traverse City. This is where Jack and Megan celebrate Fourth of July, or at least try to. There’s great coffee, bookstores, fudge shops, and plenty of tourist traps where you can buy ill-fitting tee shirts for your baby. Stop at The Little Fleet for delicious bites from various food trucks and wash it down with Moomer’s Ice Cream. 

Lake Michigan

Of course, it always comes back to the water. The story opens with, “Beyond the window, Lake Michigan churned with the power of an ocean, its vastness filling the edges of the sky as if nothing existed beyond it.” 

It’s easy to forget that this body of water isn’t an ocean. It swells and whips and expands like one – melding from Mediterranean Sea-green to a deep indigo. The lake has a persona of its own. It brings livelihoods. It brings together a community. And it carries secrets. At one point, Megan is forced to leap off a cliff – “The water stretched beneath her, churning against the cliff’s base. Powerful. Not evil, but not benign either.”

Maybe the best part of babymoon was our second-rate hotel situated right on East Bay. We would crack the balcony door and wake up in pre-dawn light to the hushed lapping of waves on shore. Some days were bleak and drizzled with rain, and on those occasions, we didn’t mind being on the other side of the window –  inside looking out. In fact, it was perfect.

Don’t forget! Publication day for The Honest Lies is right around the corner! You can pre-order your Kindle version today and have it magically appear on your device December 8, 2020.