NEED TO KNOW
- Rachel Beanland’s new e book The Half Life facilities on a Navy neighborhood on an Mediterranean island
- The story is drawn from Beanland’s personal childhood, which she later realized “had truly been much more difficult — and contentious — than I spotted”
- Beanland can be the writer of Florence Adler Swims Perpetually and The Home Is on Fireplace
Rachel Beanland’s personal expertise as a “navy brat” set the stage for her upcoming novel, The Half Life.
ipromiseyoumedia has an unique first have a look at the duvet of The Half Life, set for launch this summer season.
The novel follows Eileen O’Malley, 23, who’s swept off her toes by naval officer Paul Archer and the 2 rapidly wed. The wedding and Paul’s navy service transports them to La Maddalena, a Mediterranean island the place the officer “might be heading up Radiological Controls aboard a submarine tender,” in accordance with a e book description.
As soon as there, Eileen enmeshes herself in a neighborhood of different Navy wives, settling into life on the island via Italian classes and cooking. “She begins to like the place for all of the methods it’s not like the place she comes from,” the synopsis reads.
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It is not fairly paradise although, when attainable nuclear contamination is detected within the water. Says the outline: “Eileen’s marriage strains and her loyalties start to shift as she is drawn into an online of secrets and techniques — and to an area journalist who forces her to think about a life past the one she’s been handed.”
Beanland, who can be the pen behind The Home Is on Fireplace and Florence Adler Swims Perpetually, frolicked on La Maddalena throughout her youth, she tells ipromiseyoumedia.
“As a child, I moved eight instances, went to 11 completely different faculties, lived overseas twice and was perennially ‘the brand new woman,’ ” Beanland says. “[La Maddalena] is a large vacationer vacation spot now, identified for its rugged panorama and turquoise water, however within the early Nineteen Seventies, through the Chilly Struggle, america and Italy signed a secret accord, permitting the U.S. to moor a submarine tender there.”
Beanland’s father was a provide officer within the U.S. Navy, and was stationed in La Maddalena from 1986 to 1988.
“From my standpoint, these two years have been idyllic ones,” she says. “As a result of I used to be a child, I by no means questioned why we have been actually in Sardinia, or whether or not the Sardinian individuals needed us there. Solely later did I perceive that my idyllic childhood had truly been much more difficult — and contentious — than I spotted.”
Like Beanland’s personal reflections, Eileen is confronted with the complexities of being an American overseas, the e book’s synopsis says.
The writer is “excited for the world to satisfy Eileen Archer,” who has been thrust into a complete new actuality. “She’s slowly coming to grasp extra concerning the Navy’s mission and its influence on the island,” says Beanland.
Simon & Schuster describes the e book as “atmospheric, horny and quietly defiant.”
“Scripting this e book allowed me to not solely write a love story, however to jot down a love letter to La Maddalena,” Beanland tells ipromiseyoumedia. “It additionally allowed me to seize a few of my dad and mom’ experiences on the island, and to pay tribute to the Navy neighborhood, and specifically the ‘Navy wives,’ who supported my mom and helped elevate us children throughout my father’s extended absences.”
The Half Life comes out July 14, 2026 and is out there for preorder now, wherever books are offered.