CAMDEN —This summer as books open on beaches, a new novel by bestselling author and Rutgers Law–Camden professor Pam Jenoff takes readers to the Jersey Shore during World War II through the eyes of a young Jewish immigrant stateside.
The intense realities of the most widespread war in history drive The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach (Mira, July 28, 2015), but the down-to-earth perspective of its narrator, Adelia Monteforte, also reveals how during this complicated time of global unrest a teenager still manages to create a life for herself and find her place.
After traveling to the United States from Fascist Italy on her own, Adelia relocates with her aunt and uncle who live in South Philadelphia and summer in Chelsea Beach, a neighborhood in Atlantic City. There, Adelia meets next-door neighbors the Connallys, an Irish-Catholic family of four sons who help her adjust to American life as well as draw her into their own domestic turmoil.
While the book’s storylines have various settings across the globe, including South Philly, Washington, D.C. and London, it’s the Jersey Shore that anchors the novel.
“My family background is steeped in the Jersey Shore,” says Jenoff, a Cherry Hill resident and the author of several other works of fiction, including The Kommandant’s Girl, The Diplomat’s Wife, and The Winter Guest. “My paternal grandparents had small hotels and restaurants in Atlantic City in the 1930s and 1940s and I spent summers at the shore as a child. It was a joy to set the book – my first on the home front – partially there and to research how life was actually affected by the war. I was surprised to learn, for example, that Atlantic City played such a vital role in war efforts by providing training at what came to be known as ‘Camp Boardwalk.’”
Her eighth book, The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach, which Jenoff says began as an idea some 20 years ago, was influence in part by Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. It also draws on Jenoff’s experience at the Pentagon and the State Department in Europe working on Holocaust issues. While a work of fiction, and perhaps classified by some as romance, the book takes on serious historical material. How does she balance being historically accurate with telling a compelling story?
“I actually don’t believe in genre and I don’t set out to write romance,” she says. “My books draw from my years at the Pentagon and as a diplomat. But there is always a tension and a balance to be struck in historical fiction between the historical background to include in order to be true to the era and the need to bend for the sake of narrative. I try to treat the material with accuracy and respect while keeping in mind that I am writing fiction and telling a story.”
The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach is earning positive feedback from writers like New York Times bestselling author Susan Wiggs, who says, “When it comes to bringing an era to life, this author has no peer. It’s a powerful, moving drama of love, loss and redemption –heartbreaking, authentic and ultimately uplifting.”
Now a clinical professor at Rutgers Law–Camden, where she teaches Legal Analysis, Writing, and Research, Employment Discrimination, and Professional Responsibility, Jenoff says she began novel writing while working as a junior attorney at a large Philadelphia law firm.
The two worlds continue to support one another, she says. In her first-year legal writing course, Jenoff incorporates fiction writing techniques for jumpstarting creativity and knowing oneself as a writer. Her years in the legal profession have also helped during the novel revision process.
“My life as a writer has always had to coexist with my profession,” she says. “It is very busy but I love being both professor and author.”