Blog Tour: Just One Year by Gayle Forman | New York's Cameo

OUaT is extremely excited to be a part of the Just One Year blog tour. We are HUGE fans of Gayle Forman and love all her novels. Today Gayle shares why New York makes a cameo in her books.

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Welcome to the Just One Year blog tour! After spending an amazing day and night together in Paris, Just One Year is Willem’s story, picking up where Allyson’s journey in Just One Day ended. In honor of the world-spanning romance, we asked author Gayle Forman to share her memories for 12 different cities, each of which is featured in either Just One Day or Just One Year (or both!). Follow along on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays throughout September as Gayle tells her story in anticipation of the October release of Just One Year!

After having a starring role in Where She Went, my beloved city gets cameos in the latest books. Much as I love NYC, it has to share the spotlight. It was kind of a perfect spot for Allyson to visit in Just One Day, because when she initially sees Melanie there, and goes to hipster Greenpoint to hear a band play, she is at her lowest, and New York is a place that kicks you in the gut when you are down. Hence, Allyson feels out of place, like a tourist in her own country. When she returns toward the end of the book with Dee, she is much more at home.

I don’t want to get too specific about New York’s role in Just One Year, but I will say that the last few times I’ve been to Amsterdam, arguably my favorite city after my hometown, I’ve noticed the similarities between it and Gotham. It’s not one of scale. Amsterdam is a doll’s house, NYC is a giant’s castle. But it’s a vibe. One of tolerance, which isn’t to be confused with liberalness, though both cities are very progressive. Tolerance is born out of pragmatism, a live-and-let-live necessity when you live cheek-by-jowl with so many other people (The Netherlands might be tiny, but it’s one of the most population dense countries in the world.) In any case, New York was once called New Amsterdam, and in some ways the cities still feel linked. In the books, they certainly are.

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After spending an amazing day and night together in Paris, Just One Year is Willem's story, picking up where Just One Day ended. His story of their year of quiet longing and near misses is a perfect counterpoint to Allyson's own as Willem undergoes a transformative journey, questioning his path, finding love, and ultimately, redefining himself.

  

Gayle Forman (www.gayleforman.com) is an award-winning, international bestselling author and journalist whose articles have appeared in numerous publications. She is the author of the companion title Just One Day, as well as New York Times bestsellers If I Stay and Where She Went, and Sisters in Sanity (HarperTeen). Follow Gayle on Twitter @gayleforman.

Just One Year Blog Tour Schedule:

9/2: I Am A Reader, Not A Writer
9/4: The Compulsive Reader
9/6: Alice Marvels
9/9: Yareads
9/11: The Flyleaf Review
9/13: The Young Folks
9/16: The Story Siren
9/18: Cuddlebuggery
9/20: Books With Bite
9/23: Forever Young Adult
9/25: Once Upon a Twilight
9/27: Me, My Shelf, and I

Don't forget to check out Just One Day is you haven't yet.