Author Jamie Brenner Makes Art And The American Hotel The Centerpiece Of Her Novel Set In Sag Harbor

Every spring, just before summer hits, New York City-based author Jamie Brenner comes out with a new novel set in a different coastal town somewhere on the eastern seaboard. Whether it’s the Jersey Shore or somewhere on Cape Cod, her books typically begin with Ms. Brenner devising a plot followed by visits to various coastal areas in search of the best place in which to set her story.

But when it came to Sag Harbor, the exact opposite happened.

“This time the place came first,” admitted Ms. Brenner in a recent interview. “I was at The American Hotel with my husband and the place really captured my imagination. I had never been at a place with a bar where I could be sitting between a guy running a water taxi and a famous writer.”

From hobnobbing with the locals as well as the lauded, to the rotary telephones in the guest rooms, Ms. Brenner admitted she found a special energy in the place.

“I write my books in a different beach town every summer. I thought, ‘How can I bring my readers into the space?” said Ms. Brenner.

The answer is “Drawing Home,” Ms. Brenner’s newest novel published by Little Brown and Company, which came out on May 7. Set in Sag Harbor, the centerpiece of the action takes place at The American Hotel and on Saturday, May 11, that’s where Ms. Brenner will hold the launch party for her book. The hotel is also where the book’s protagonist, single-mother Emma Mapson, works as the front desk clerk while struggling to raise Penny, her 14-year-old daughter, who has OCD and few friends.

Set in the days leading up to Memorial Day and the start of the summer season, “Drawing Home” begins with Henry Wyatt, a famous artist and regular of The American Hotel, dying from a heart attack while occupying his regular seat at the hotel bar. In his will, he mysteriously leaves his multi-million dollar waterfront estate in North Haven to Penny with whom he shared a mutual love for drawing.

But Henry’s former New York business partner and art patron Bea Winstead is having none of it. Certain that the late, great artist was somehow conned by Emma into changing his will, she shows up in Sag Harbor ready to fight for what she believes is rightfully hers. With a propensity for insulting the locals and their backwards ways, she roams all over Sag Harbor in an effort to piece together the truth of Henry Wyatt’s final days, by following the trail of artwork he has left behind in the village.

Ms. Brenner explained that the idea behind the plot of “Drawing Home” was inspired by the late legendary New York photographer Bill Cunningham.

“He had 40 years’ worth of photo archives and when he died, he left them to a bartender in Boston instead of a museum or an old friend,” said Ms. Brenner in a phone interview. “Society women were up in arms over that.”

While fine art and big money is what makes the plot of “Drawing Home” turn, the book itself is totally inspired by and reflective of Sag Harbor. Lots of familiar places and events crop up in its pages. From yogurt at Buddha Berry, and the community effort to rebuild the cinema after a fire, to working residents who unwind at Murph’s with a beer and a little ring toss game at the end of their long day, it is the village that really has the starring role.

“My first day in Sag Harbor ever was Halloween. I think there was a parade and all the local kids were out,” recalled Ms. Brenner when talking about her introduction to the place. “It had a very close-knit feel to it. The first winter I came to Sag Harbor was December of the cinema fire, then I started going back. I eventually experienced the summer too.”

After observing the pulse of the village from the point of view of the locals, Ms. Brenner settled on the idea of making her protagonist a native Sag Harborite struggling to survive. When asked what aspect of the village most piqued her interest she said, “It was definitely the hotel. I feel it has its own millions of stories but I started to learn more of those as I started to know Taylor Berry from Harbor Books. I wanted to create a story set there.”

On one of those early visits to Sag Harbor, Ms. Brenner also happened to wander into the Sag Harbor Historical Society where she met historian Jean Held and told her she was setting a book at the hotel. Ms. Held promptly called Jack Youngs whose family owned The American Hotel before the current owner, Ted Conklin, purchased it in 1972. Mr. Youngs soon showed up at the historical society with photo albums and stories to share with Ms. Brenner about the hotel.

Ms. Brenner also went to the John Jermain Memorial Library where director Catherine Creedon and reference librarian Susan Mullin helped her do more research by tracking down old maps of the village and menus from the hotel.

“On one of our visits to Sag Harbor, the operator of the water taxi, Ken Deeg, took my husband and I out with his dog. He gave me a sense of the geography from the water and told funny stories about people getting stuck on rocks and other summer shenanigans.”

While Ms. Brenner was originally thinking of writing a book set on Block Island, just across the sound in Rhode Island, she quickly found herself hitting a wall while trying to capture a sense of the place. She even had difficulty booking a hotel room on Block Island, so abandoned the book idea altogether.

“I find the best books come out of places that give—and some places don’t,” she said. “But Sag Harbor gave a lot. I wrote about Provincetown too, which is also extremely giving. The places that give end up in books. People in these places care about their world, the world beyond and nature and the environment.”

The fact that Ms. Brenner can wake up in New York City and within a couple hours (in the off season at least) find herself in Sag Harbor is another bonus worth writing home about. For the record, Ms. Brenner’s book next year will be set in Provincetown, and in 2021? Expect a story set on the North Fork. It would appear this is one author who’s not quite through with the East End.

The launch party for Jamie Brenner’s “Drawing Home” is Saturday, May 11, from 3 to 5 p.m. at The American Hotel. She will also give an author talk at BookHampton in July and take part in the East Hampton Library’s Authors Night on August 10.