When I get together with other booklovers, I enjoy finding out what they've read lately, but I also love hearing about their favorite books from childhood, books that they reread—that they turn to whenever they want a "comfort" read.

In Secrets of the Lost Summer, Dylan McCaffrey discovers he's inherited a rundown house in a small New England town he's never even heard of. He can't imagine what his treasure hunter father was doing in out-of-the-way Knights Bridge, much less why he bought a house there and never told him. It's an eyesore of a place, and Dylan's new neighbor, Olivia Frost, wants him to clean it up—or to let her do it.

Not a likely place for lost treasure…but definitely one for secrets.

Grace Webster, the previous owner of the house, a retired schoolteacher in her 90s, doesn't seem like the type for secrets. Yet…when she was a teenager facing massive change and uncertainty in her life, she created a secret hideaway and coped by reading. Olivia and Dylan find some of the swashbuckling tales Grace had with her, which play a role in a secret she's kept for decades.

I started writing as a kid when I'd climb a tree with a pad and pen. I'd sit on my favorite branch and spin tales. I'd also read books. I loved classic mysteries and tales of swordfighters, spies and faraway times and places. I read Pride and Prejudice up in a tree, and books from Mary Stewart, Agatha Christie, Rex Stout, Alistair MacLean, Raymond Chandler, Robert Ludlum—whatever else I could find in the library or borrow from my older brother. I didn't notice if it was a musty book no one had read in years or a classic or the latest bestseller. I knew nothing about publishing. I just wanted to read.

For the past few years, I've taken up rereading favorites from my tree-climbing days, and when I go on vacation, I always have a Rex Stout novel with me. I especially love Nero Wolfe in his early detective days. I'm collecting hard copies of as many of my childhood favorites as I can—I just bought The Three Musketeers and I'm working on everything by Jane Austen.

Of course, I've discovered lots of wonderful authors since then and count many of them among my friends. Like other avid readers, my "to be read" list is a constant work in progress. There's something special, though, about revisiting a book we read as kids. On our small farm in western Massachusetts, my favorite tree was a sugar maple on the edge of the woods, where I could look out at the Quabbin wilderness that plays a pivotal role in Secrets of the Lost Summer. Who knows, maybe the idea for Grace Webster and her secrets and their impact on Dylan and Olivia's lives—and on their romance—started then, when I was a kid perched up in that tree. 

- Carla Neggers