{"id":1654013,"date":"2026-06-11T10:20:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T14:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/observer.com\/?post_type=listicle&p=1654013"},"modified":"2026-06-11T10:45:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T14:45:27","slug":"carley-fortune-the-essentials-every-year-after-tofino-canada","status":"publish","type":"listicle","link":"https:\/\/observer.com\/list\/carley-fortune-the-essentials-every-year-after-tofino-canada\/","title":{"rendered":"The Essentials With Carley Fortune: “Off Campus,” Tofino and All Things Barry’s Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When Carley Fortune began writing her first novel during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, she never anticipated having it published. Not only did Every Summer After<\/em> land a spot on the New York Times <\/em>best-seller list shortly following its publication in 2022, but now, readers who fell in love with Fortune\u2019s protagonists (and their romantic saga that played out in the lakeside town of Barry\u2019s Bay) can see the story brought to life in the Amazon Prime series, Every Year After<\/a><\/em>. \u201cWhen I wrote Every Summer After<\/em>, we spent that summer at a cottage very close to where I grew up on the lake in Barry\u2019s Bay,\u201d Fortune, who is currently based in Toronto, tells Observer. \u201cI was writing really early in the morning before my job, before my kid got up, and I was writing just for myself\u2014I was trying to write about how I grew up and where I grew up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the four years since the release of her debut novel, Fortune has written four more bestselling books, all of which are set in different picturesque locations in her native Canada. And while she notes that her writing process has changed, one thing that remains the same is allowing the location to serve as her foundation. \u201cI need to know where the action takes place before I can figure out what that story will be,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd the settings so far are all places that I\u2019m very familiar with, like Barry\u2019s Bay, where I grew up, which is the setting for two of my books.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n

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Courtesy Erin Leydon<\/span> Fortune in Barry’s Bay, where “Every Summer After” and “One Golden Summer” are both set.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

In her latest novel, Our Perfect Storm<\/a><\/em>, Fortune decided to re-explore the coastal town of Tofino on the west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. \u201cI visited Tofino twice when I was in my 20s living on Vancouver Island, and I just fell in love with it,\u201d she recalls. \u201cThere are ancient rainforests with trees that are like 300, 400 years old, and then the rainforest runs right into the beach. And the beaches are very moody and rocky with fog that comes and goes, so it has this kind of eerie, mythical quality,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of the transportive quality of Fortune\u2019s books comes from her lush location descriptions, a skill she credits to her 15-year career as a journalist. \u201cI write everything down, I double-check everything that I\u2019m doing; I pay attention to the smells and the way the light is,\u201d says Fortune, who also returned to Tofino for research. \u201cBecause I write these sweeping love stories, and the emotions are so big, I think that having these real places grounds it all and helps you feel like you\u2019re there with the characters.\u201d For Our Perfect Storm<\/em>, those characters came from a flash of an idea Fortune had while watching her kids play in the backyard. \u201cI watched them chase a rabbit, and the rabbit kind of scurried under the hedges around our yard, and I just had this image of two children meeting this way,\u201d she shares. \u201cI thought about those kids for years, and eventually they became George and Frankie.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Slaven Vlasic\/Getty Images for Prime Video<\/span> Carley Fortune, Sadie Soverall, Matt Cornett, Michael Bradway and Elisha Cuthbert at the “Every Year After” premiere.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Fortune is already working on her sixth novel, due out next year, and this summer, filming starts for a Netflix series based on her third book, This Summer Will Be Different<\/a><\/em>. \u201cWe\u2019re casting that now, and it\u2019s going to be shooting in Toronto and on Prince Edward Island, where it\u2019s set,\u201d says Fortune. But in the meantime, it\u2019s all about Barry\u2019s Bay. \u201cAmazon also has the rights to One Golden Summer<\/em> [Fortune\u2019s fourth novel, an interconnected standalone that features characters from Every Summer After<\/em>], so the intention would be to weave One Golden Summer<\/em> into the second season, but we\u2019re just keeping our fingers crossed.\u201d With Every Year After<\/em> officially out on Amazon Prime, Carley Fortune spoke with Observer about the book\u2019s onscreen adaptation and her current essentials, including the must-see spots in Tofino that inspired her latest book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n\t\t\tCarley Fortune’s Essentials\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
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