Author Courtney Summers wants to destroy you. Not literally, of course, but through the devastating books for young adults that she has spent the last decade writing. Her most recent, The project, is no different. A distressing look at cults and the people who pursue them, Summers’ ninth book hits the shelves on February 2 via St. Martin’s Press.
The project focuses on sisters Lo, 19 and Bea Denham in their early 20s after the death of their parents and Bea’s entry into a cult called Project Unity. After Bea has cut all contact with Lo, the young woman is concerned about her sister’s whereabouts – it doesn’t help when a man arrives at the magazine where she works as an assistant and claims that Project Unity killed her son. Despite being very low on the magazine’s headline, Lo uses his influence to investigate the charismatic leader of the Project, Lev Warren, and – in doing so – find Bea. What follows is a fascinating view of cults, who joins them and why.
Last book of the summer – the New York Times bestseller Sadie – was launched in 2018 with great acclaim; a dual-point novel, follows 19-year-old fugitive Sadie as she escapes the brutal murder of her sister Mattie and podcaster West McCray, who is investigating Sadie’s disappearance. Both are currently available for reading online through the Amazon Kindle or as an audiobook through Audible.
Rolling Stone talked to Summers, 35, about sects, why she could see herself joining one, and just why she found inspiration in Jim Jones.
So, why did you decide to write a book on cults?
After Sadie came out, I was really trying to figure out what the next book would be. And I kind of had the feeling that I wanted it to be about a sect because I was thinking about how nobody thinks I would join a sect. They feel that they would be impenetrable to that kind of influence, that they would never be so foolish as to go after someone and get lost completely. So I thought, “Am I that kind of person?” I feel like I’m going to join a service.
I feel that the general vibration for most people is that they are resistant to this idea. And I kind of think it lacks empathy. You really have to remove a lot of the context of what leads people to these situations to support the thesis that you would be above making the same kind of decisions.
I was like, “I want to write a book that pushes for that”. But when I brought this to my editor, I said, “You have to convince me otherwise, because when you sit down to write a cult novel, there is only one way they can go, right?” So, it’s like, “Oh, this is going to be a lot of work.” For example, how to keep the suspense, how to keep it steady, how to make sure that emotions are at the forefront and that they are emotionally alive, because cult novels kind of go on all the time. So, it was a big undertaking. I told her, “Please tell me about it.” And she didn’t.
Why do you think you would join a sect, exactly?
I know the power of the community and the connections – of which I am a part and of which I have made. I am not ashamed to admit that I am a vulnerable person. I think I have to touch the part of me that wants to write about these things. I have to allow myself to be vulnerable, to empathize, to bring that kind of emotion to the forefront of my process. But to know that about me is also to know that these are characteristics that are very easy for a person to explore. I just think, you know, if I found the right cult leader at the right time, I might have a problem saying no. I really hope that is not the case, but I will be honest with myself.
What kind of research have you done on sects?
I started very broadly. I was just beginning to feel, what is a cult? What makes the cult, who joined the cult? And then I came across Peoples Temple and Jim Jones. And I said, “This is it. That’s what I need to build The project out there because there is a very interesting case study. ”The Peoples Temple was deeply involved in the Civil Rights Movement. And they believed in helping people. They wanted everyone dressed, protected and fed. They wanted everyone to be healthy. They really took care of their community. And his goal was perverted by a man, a madman. And you could actually see Jim Jones trying to appeal to people’s better nature, which seemed unique to me. In the beginning, it was not an apocalyptic approach. It was: “We can make the world a better place”. And I thought it was so tragic and moving.
Author Courtney Summers
Megan Gunter *
Your brand in social media is basically, “This book is going to destroy you.” Let’s talk about this. Do you feel pressured to make each book more distressing than the previous one?
It is my brand really taken to the next level. And now it’s like a part of The projectmarketing: “Courtney Summers will destroy you”. I mean, there will be a certain level of pressure at each launch, following Sadie. It was certainly a little intense because that was my sixth book, but it happened. And everyone talks about how it upset them, but I’ve been upsetting people for over a decade. I really love to force it. I never want to make a reader happy. I just want them to be upset. I will never be fully successful in my goal all the time. But if I am satisfied with the final product, I know I will have upset someone. I feel pressured to ruin people’s lives, but I rise to the occasion whenever I like to think.
There is a lot of pressure on YA fiction to inspire, to motivate readers. Why do you want to “ruin people’s lives”?
Something I am constantly exploring in my work is violence against women and the way we are unable to deal with victims and survivors. I wouldn’t say I’m inspired by that, but I’m really outraged. And my books are a response to my anger over certain issues – I want them to be a confrontation of those issues. So, I really want readers to finish my books feeling equally outraged and say, “OK, if that’s how the world is, how can I change it?”
In fact, I think my inclination for dark stories is, oddly enough, a reflection of optimism. Because, however dark they are, however hopeless they may seem at times, I see them as a love letter to our ability to endure and emerge from our darkest moments to find something meaningful on the other side.