Historical crime novel set in County WEXFORD
Talking Location With …. Emma Burstall – Rockaway, Queens, NEW YORK
1st September 2022
#TalkingLocationWith… Emma Burstall, author of The House on Rockaway Beach: Rockaway, Queens, New York
“Why I Love Rockaway”
Everyone’s heard of Manhattan and Brooklyn, but fewer people seem to know that just an hour or so from New York City is an area of long, golden, sandy beaches perfect for swimming, surfing and sunbathing.
Step forward Rockaway Beach, one of the City’s best kept secrets. You can catch a ferry from Manhattan’s Wall Street/Pier 11 and be there in under sixty minutes. Going by car or train is also perfectly doable.
I fell in love with the place many years ago, when my sister moved into a beautiful old house there with her new husband. They went on to raise three children, all adults now, who were lucky enough to grow up with the beach as their playground.
Most summers, I’d visit with my kids for two or three weeks at a time. The cousins enjoyed hanging out with each other. They’d build sandcastles, surf the rolling Atlantic waves, or just sit at home, squeezed together on a swing bench under the wooden porch, swapping stories and catching the breeze.
In the evenings, we’d all cycle or stroll along the nearby boardwalk, stopping for refreshments in one of the many food and drinks stalls along the way.
Five and a half miles long, the boardwalk’s humming with life in summer and there’s always music and dancing, as well as vintage clothes stalls and shops selling quirky sunhats, boogie boards, surfing gear and other beachy paraphernalia.
Often, we’d sip Cokes or Piña Coladas, nibble on fish tacos and breathe in the ocean air while watching the sun go down.
There’s something about Rockaway sunsets that feeds the soul. Away from the crowds, plenty of sections of the beach are virtually deserted by late afternoon/early evening.
As the sun sinks, the colours become so brightly and jewel like, they seem unreal. Then when darkness descends, the sky is lit up by a myriad stars that make the sea shimmer and turn the sand silvery grey. Standing there, watching, you can feel like the only person in the world.
The Rockaway peninsula is on the Southern edge of the New York City borough of Queen’s on Long Island. Originally inhabited by Native Americans, the name may be derived from an ancient word meaning ‘The place of our own people.’
Many of the locals have lived here for generations, but the area also attracts its fair share of newcomers. In summer, day-trippers also flock to the beaches from Manhattan, Brooklyn and surrounds. It makes for fabulous people-watching.
I decided Rockaway would be the perfect location for my next book for a variety of reasons: It’s relatively unknown; it has a unique, urban beach vibe, an interesting history and it’s home to a wide range of people from all walks of life.
As it’s also just a stone’s throw from the bright lights and towering skyscrapers of Manhattan, I realised these could
provide an interesting, alternative and very different backdrop for my characters.
Even better, setting my book there would mean I’d need to make lots of extra research trips and stay, of course, with my dear sister and her husband in their beach house. A win-win situation!
The House on Rockaway Beach by Emma Burstall is out now in hardback
EMMA BURSTALL
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Hi Emma,
I read the book and absolutely loved it, my review is set to publish mid September 2022.
Some of the overseas (particularly the US) beachside areas have so much more to offer than those of our own English resorts, or at least it seems that way, with their boardwalk vibes and amazing sunsets. Life doesn’t stop at 5pm and when the tide goes out, you don’t tend to get left with a mudbank in its place!!
I guess the grass always seems greener in someone else’s garden! – or maybe that should be happier on someone else’s beach!
Hope you make many more lovely memories on Rockaway Beach 🙂