Chatting to author Kathryn Berla about inspiration for setting – California and Europe

27th August 2018

#TalkingLocationWith… Kathryn Berla, author of The Kitty Committee. Here she chats locations in Europe, why Lake Tahoe is special and her first impressions of San Francisco, all settings in her mystery novel.

By the time I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, I had spent half of my life overseas (including Switzerland, India, Syria and West Africa) and nearly half in the then fairly rustic and small city of Reno—the claim to being “the biggest little city in the world” still held true when I first moved to Reno.

Life in Reno meant summers in Lake Tahoe unless you were a skier (which I was not) which would have then also meant winters in Lake Tahoe. But those summers and that lake! A dollop of sapphire, startling at first sight, so unprepared was I for its unexpected appearance high in the dusty, pine-scented Sierra Nevada mountains. Lying in a bowl whose rim is made up of high peaks where patches of snow often linger through the hottest months, the lake is so vast that its opposite shore in the widest part is obscured by the curvature of the earth. Partially fed by melting snow, the water stays chilly throughout the summer, and only during the hottest days would I venture from the dreamy beaches or huge, flat baking rocks in order to plunge into the icy blue.  But as wide as it is, it’s also deep, something every local knows. Lake Tahoe is the second deepest lake in the United States and those frosty, unexplored depths are a haunting reminder that Mother Nature is always a force to be reckoned with—one hand giving while the other takes away.

Whenever I return to Lake Tahoe, I’m swept away by long-forgotten memories teased to life by the clean, tangy scent of pine. By the touch of sun against bare skin, the lake’s high altitude offering only a thin layer of atmosphere as protection against sunburns which can (and in my case, did) return to punish me in the form of skin cancer some ten years later.

Lake Tahoe

But it was the frigid depths of the lake and the mystery beneath that would become one of my inspirations for The Kitty Committee.

The first thing I remember about California was how passive it seemed in comparison. Gentle rolling hills, butterscotch in color; mile after mile of freeways lined by husky oleander bushes freckled with candy-colored flowers. It didn’t seem to have any of the menacing danger of its neighboring state. Though half of Lake Tahoe is located in California, it always seemed the tamer half in my mind.

Of course, I came to California with a head full of preconceived notions—its music, its laid-back culture, its beaches and golden arms open to transplants from across the nation and even the world. I was already hooked on my first full day in the Golden State though it would take me more than a decade to become one of its own. I hadn’t yet experienced the violence simmering just beneath its surface which would arrive in the form of the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989—a tremblor that would rattle the San Francisco Bay area, collapsing its most heavily traveled bridge, turning a major freeway into a death trap that, on TV, looked like an Erector Set trounced by a spoiled child.

But it was clear to me from the start that this was where I belonged, and that notion has never changed. With its temperate climate, the Pacific Ocean, Wine Country, Silicon Valley, and world-class universities, all reachable within an hour—even Lake Tahoe just a mere three hours away—my longing for adventure had a temporary respite and my soul found its permanent home. What a fortunate thing that this Land’s End is such a welcoming place to end one’s journey.

It was within this cocoon of comfort that Grace’s parents entrusted their family to heal during their time of crisis in The Kitty Committee. But as one always learns, a place can never be a substitute, nor even a foundation for a state of mind, and so it was with Grace although she tries to outpace her demons by escaping to Europe and beyond.

The author in Venice

In the time-honored tradition of lost and restless souls, Grace embarks on a journey to remake herself by running from her past. What she gains in Turkey is her wandering legs, strengthened by the warmth of the family that takes her in. Italy with its ancient past, stunning beauty, and the vibrancy of daily living steals her heart. Switzerland, a country I adore, gets into her head in an uncomfortable way she can’t reckon with. The formidable and unforgiving panoramas force her to turn inward before she’s ready to confront her demons and so she feels the urge to flee to kinder landscapes. Only recently, I learned that Anthony Bourdain had this same reaction to Switzerland, the one place he never filmed a show for no rational reason, just an overwhelming and inexplicable fear. Grace eventually finds her temporary balance and comfort zone in Spain, but the San Francisco Bay Area is a place that might be impossible for her (and me) to leave behind forever.

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