Much of This Summer Will Be Different takes place on Prince Edward Island (PEI), a large island in eastern Canada and one of Canada’s maritime provinces. PEI is known for its sandy beaches, pleasant weather, and fresh seafood. Fortune evokes all these characteristics, using vivid visual language to create a detailed portrait of PEI. Many of the island’s historic landmarks appear in the novel; Lucy walks along Thunder Cove Beach and attends the Tyne Valley Oyster Festival.

Because wind and waves constantly buffet the shores of PEI, the landscape changes frequently as shorelines erode over time. Fortune weaves in the true story of Hurricane Fiona, which made landfall on PEI in 2022, causing major damage. Among the damage was the loss of Teacup Rock, an iconic landmark on Thunder Cove Beach. Fortune parallels the destruction of Teacup Rock and painful changes in Lucy’s personal life, including the death of her aunt Stacy. In Fortune’s hands, PEI’s changing landscape symbolizes the inevitable losses that come with time.

PEI is also the birthplace of Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author of the famous Anne of Green Gables series. The coming-of-age series portrays the life of a young Anne Shirley in a fictional place called Bolingbroke, Nova Scotia.