{"id":4982,"date":"2026-06-20T16:11:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T20:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/?p=4982"},"modified":"2026-06-20T16:11:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T20:11:16","slug":"lisa-williams-klines-new-novel-about-a-writers-group-book-banning-and-the-experience-of-living-in-a-retirement-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/blog\/2026\/06\/20\/lisa-williams-klines-new-novel-about-a-writers-group-book-banning-and-the-experience-of-living-in-a-retirement-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Lisa Williams Kline\u2019s New Novel about a Writers\u2019 Group, Book Banning, and the Experience of Living in a Retirement Community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Now that I am in my 70s, I am drawn to stories featuring characters who wrestle with the challenges of getting older, for I am dealing with such challenges myself. Scarcely a week goes by without somebody asking me if I am planning to retire, which I am not, but I have many friends who have retired and who have made the decision to move into retirement communities. I am curious about their experiences, so when I heard that Lisa Williams Kline has recently published a novel set in a retirement community, I decided to investigate. <\/p>\n\n\n

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The novel is titled The Bristlecone Writers\u2019 Group. <\/em>It focuses on a small group of writers who live in or are affiliated with the Bristlecone Retirement Community, and they all are members of the same writing group. One day one of the members dies, and her death sets into motion a series of revelations and events involving the writing process, book banning, and a mystery surrounding the woman who died. Wanting to know more, I contacted Lisa and asked her about her new novel and how she came to write it.  Here is what she sent to me:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Thank you so much for the invitation to write about the inspirations for my new book, <\/em>The Bristlecone Writers\u2019 Group. I\u2019ve lived in the Charlotte area since 1997, and in Davidson since 2014. I was president of the Charlotte Writers\u2019 Club many years ago, when we still met at the Great Aunt Stella Center. Mary Kratt, who had been president before me, kindly took me under her wing and showed me the ropes. Later, I had the pleasure of working at Novello with Frye Gaillard, Amy Rogers, and Betsy Thorpe. After Novello closed, Eleanor Brawley hired me as an administrative assistant on her narrative photographic program for the Levine Museum, <\/em>Families of Abraham. When I was moving from writing children\u2019s books to adult fiction, I attended Queens to earn my MFA. Now, I get into Charlotte several times a month, as one of our daughters lives in Plaza Midwood, one of my writers\u2019 groups (Betsy Thorpe and Emily Pearce) meets at Amelie\u2019s on Park Road, and I still belong to CWC and Charlotte Lit. I am in a group called Lake Norman Writers, a spin-off from Charlotte Writers\u2019 Club North, with Ann Campanella, Gilda Morina Syverson, Tootsie O\u2019Hara, Sandra Phillips, Connie Fisher, Caroline Kenna, Tara Marshall, Dede Mitchell, and Tammy Wilson. I consider myself lucky beyond measure to have been welcomed by and become part of the writing community here.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I realized a few years ago that writing had been a huge and important part of my life \u2013 I still hardly feel that something has truly happened to me until I have processed it by writing about it \u2013 but I had never in a novel addressed the idea of how writing can affect a person\u2019s life, or how dreams of writing can be deferred and then at last fulfilled. So that\u2019s where the idea for the novel began.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bristlecone Writers\u2019 Group is a story about what happens after one member of a writers\u2019 group in a retirement community dies and the others discover a list of banned books in her otherwise empty briefcase. Time and the revelation of secrets change what they thought about their lost friend, and her work. Solving the mystery together brings deeper and more meaningful connections, and the characters experience second chances at lifelong dreams and even love.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book takes place in a fictional town named Eden Forest, which is a blend of Winston-Salem, where I grew up, and Davidson, where I live now. The retirement community in the book is a blend of several different communities such as Salemtowne, where I spent time with my mother, the community in Delaware, where my husband\u2019s mother stayed, and the Pines, in Davidson, where several members of my old writing group now live. The bookstore is based primarily on Main Street Books in Davidson, with vibes from Park Road Books, Trope Bookshop, Fred and June\u2019s, and other beloved independent bookstores in the Charlotte area.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also wanted to write about older people, whose lives are so much more complicated than many people think. When I was young, I thought that our most important decisions were made in our youth. But by the time we are older, our lives can be exceedingly more complex than before, with ex-spouses, children and stepchildren, and our decisions markedly more difficult. Also, I\u2019ve found there\u2019s more freedom and fun in being older than I realized. Though the characters are all fictional in <\/em>The Bristlecone Writers\u2019 Group, many of the stories are true, told to me by family and friends. Such as the story of the woman with two husbands in the same retirement community. Or a couple who divorce over whether to move to a retirement community or not. Or a wife selecting the next wife for her husband should she pass away.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I wanted to write about the importance of books and reading. I learned about Banned Books from the Big Chair when I attended the American Library Association Conference in San Diego in 2024. A huge chair was set up in the lobby, and anyone could sit there, looking swallowed by it, like Edith Ann on <\/em>Laugh-In (boy am I dating myself) and read a passage from one of their favorite banned books. This simple expression about the freedom to read moved me so deeply that I decided to include it in my book. I\u2019m also a member of Authors Against Book Bans and appreciate the tools this organization offers to fight this dangerous practice.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had written about animals in my books for children, such as the <\/em>Sisters in All Seasons series, in which each book focused on an adventure with a wild animal. But I\u2019d never focused on animals in my adult books, and I wanted to explore how pets become such important furry family members, especially as we get older. Our dog Joni played Bruiser Woods in the Davidson Community Players\u2019 production of <\/em>Legally Blonde: The Musical, and it was an absolute delight to include that as part of my story.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other writing challenges I wanted to take on with this book were interweaving multiple voices and making some of the voices unlike myself. A teacher at Wildacres, Louise Hawes, once challenged me to create diverse casts for my books, and I have been trying to do a better job of that ever since.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Park Road Books on July 30 at 6:30,<\/strong> dear friends and gifted writers in my writers\u2019 group, Betsy Thorpe and Emily Smith Pearce, will interview me about The Bristlecone Writers\u2019 Group. Special guest Joni, aka Bruiser Woods, will also be there, in her Harvard t-shirt, ready to greet everyone.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For readers who want to know more about Lisa and her writings, please click on the following link: www.lisawilliamskline.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I thank Lisa for providing me with information about her new novel and for providing everyone in Storied Charlotte with a behind-the-scenes look at life in a retirement community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now that I am in my 70s, I am drawn to stories featuring characters who wrestle with the challenges of getting older, for I am dealing with such challenges myself. Scarcely a week goes by without somebody asking me if I am planning to retire, which I am not, but I have many friends who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[403],"class_list":["post-4982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-storied-charlotte","tag-lisa-williams-kline"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4982"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4989,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4982\/revisions\/4989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}