Kristin Hannah has been a writer for over 30 years and has written over a dozen books. Many of her books focus on a female protagonist who must navigate a difficult situation. In her historical fiction, this pattern is reflected in a myriad of different protagonists and novels. She has written about women subverting the Nazis in German-occupied France, a woman striving to succeed against the elements and an abusive husband in rural Alaska, and a woman trying to raise two children in the midst of the Dust Bowl. As a bit of a departure from this trend, On Mystic Lake is contemporary rather than historical fiction, and in this novel, her protagonist has to fight a battle more relatable to the modern reader: an unfaithful husband and a life left empty after her only daughter leaves to begin her own life. Many of Hannah’s novels deal with the complex relationship between mothers and daughters. In On Mystic Lake, this relationship plays a smaller role than the romantic relationship does, but the protagonist’s relationship with her daughter is a large part of what prompts her to make the necessary changes in her life.

Hannah describes her novels as being primarily character-driven, and there are numerous parallels between her own life and that of the characters in On Mystic Lake.