Mid Continent Public Library hosts Kristan Higgins to share A Little Ray of Sunshine

New York Times Bestselling Author Kristan Higgins // photo by Lydia Leclair

Mid-Continent Public Library hosts New York Times Bestselling author Kristan Higgins on June 20 to look at her new novel A Little Ray of Sunshine. The program is free to attend and provides a book sale and signing. A Little Ray of Sunshine explores the complexities of blended families and their impacts on motherhood. 

The main character, Harlow, is surprised with a visit from her son she placed into adoption 18 years ago. Harlow kept Matthew a complete secret, and his adoptive mother, Monica, was also unaware of this meeting. Harlow and Monica often judge themselves and each other for Matthew’s upbringing despite the different qualities they bring into Matthew’s life. 

“Everybody has a point in doing what they’re doing in this book. It’s great for Harlow to meet her son, but it’s also devastating to see what she missed out on,” says Higgins. “[Matthew’s] little sister is thinking ‘you have this new family but I don’t.’”

As an almost adoptive mother herself, Higgins wanted to explore adoption in a romance novel. Before writing, she originally saw adoption through rose-tinted glasses, a heroic act to place a child into better care. However, after she was notified the biological mother decided to keep her baby, she was left wondering how else her life could have looked. The rosy picture changed into something much more complicated. 

“Every time I see him, I think, ‘you could have been my son.’ There’s this real wistfulness about that,” says Higgins. “I can’t say that I wrote this book because I wanted to explore my own experience…but what I did want to write about was ‘what if you do place your baby for adoption? What does that leave you with?’”

Harlow’s love interest, Grady, has a three-year-old daughter, making her connections more complex. She pictured a child-free life, and now with the greeting of her son and contemplating a relationship as a stepmother, what does being a parent really mean? Through Grady’s character, Higgins discusses how mothers shouldn’t let a single moment define them. They need to forgive themselves to move forward. 

“[Grady] is the one who says to her ‘you’re stuck 18 years ago, from that day when you had a baby,’’ says Higgins. “‘When do you get to define yourself based on something else?’”

After long discussions with two women on an adoption podcast, Higgins says they always felt othered. Regardless of efforts, the women didn’t fully fit in with one family. The adoptee can have the relationship but not the genetics, and in another family, the biology is present, but the family lacks history. The one piece that doesn’t shift is the fact they are adopted. 

“I think that’s something I really learned about in writing this book. Being adopted is not an event that happens and ends. You’re always adopted, whether you’re middle-aged, old, or three. It’s always a thing about you, and it’s always present.”

As a fan of Kansas City, Higgins placed Cynthia’s character in the area. She lived her whole life in KC after being adopted from the orphanage, and now at 63 years old, she learns the story of her adoption wasn’t as she imagined it. Her life is wrapped within the other characters of the story, and she has to let go of her expectations of family. 

“I love writing books that are tangled and complicated where everybody’s right and everybody’s wrong at the same moment,” says Higgins. “It was like a really deliciously tangled skein of yarn, and everybody’s lives intersecting and overlapping that was really fun to write.”

In a blended family, Matthew is often caught in the middle, carefully treading around his two mothers. Monica is intimidated by Harlow’s presence, but Harlow must also navigate her feelings about her family. The unsaid often reveals more than what is spoken, and Harlow’s family reflects on why they haven’t earned her trust to tell them about Matthew. 

“They’re so happy, and they’re also forced to look at themselves,” says Higgins. “Like, ‘Harlow kept a human a secret for 18 years. What does that mean about how close we all are? How did we fail her?’” 

The novel also touches on a lesbian couple, bringing light to LGBTQ+ families and mothers.  The book features Harlow’s sister, Addy, and her wife’s children. In these blended families, sometimes not every child can look like both of their parents, but that doesn’t make their love any less. 

“If you are a mother, or if you have a mother, you should read this book because it really is an exploration into all the beauty, joy, fear, and pain that you experience as a mom, in whatever form that you are.

One of Higgins’ favorite parts of her career is hearing others’ stories. She feels grateful when people share vulnerable parts of their lives to better help craft the novel she writes. Because of the heartfelt nature of her books, she includes tissues in her swag bags.

“My writing style is ‘laugh, cry, laugh again’ because I love to write funny stories. I love to write really poignant stories. And as a reader, movie watcher, or television watcher, that’s what I want. I want the whole gamut of experiences,” says Higgins. 

Higgins shares A Little Ray of Sunshine on Tuesday, June 20, from 7-8 p.m. at The Woodneath Library Center in the Woodneath Auditorium. Registration is free online, and to view more novels by Higgins, visit her website here. Bring extra tissues, just in case.