Howard Lovy, "Found and Lost: The Jake and Cait Story" (Vine Leaves Press, 2025)

Summary

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Podcast Summary: New Books Network

Episode: Howard Lovy, "Found and Lost: The Jake and Cait Story" (Vine Leaves Press, 2025)

Host: Alana
Guest: Howard Lovy (Author)
Date: October 26, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode features journalist-turned-novelist Howard Lovy discussing his fiction debut, Found and Lost: The Jake and Cait Story. Lovy and host Alana explore the novel’s inspiration, themes of music, memory, religion, and aging, as well as the creative process behind blending fact, fiction, and documentary-style storytelling. The conversation delves into character inspiration, the role of place, interfaith romance, and the enduring relevance of art and memory.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Howard Lovy’s Background & Shift to Fiction

• Career Overview:

  • Lovy began his career in journalism, focusing on science, technology, and Jewish issues, serving as managing editor at JTA and executive editor of a book review magazine.
  • Shift to authoring and editing books after changes in the news industry.
  • “A through line throughout has been Jewish issues.” (02:10)

• Transition to Fiction:

  • Lovy describes fiction as a “marriage of imagination and reality.”
  • Motivation for fiction came from burnout with intense topics and a desire for creative freedom.
  • “I could tell the truth in a different way by inventing a story… fun and freeing too.” (03:30)

2. Inspiration & Development of Found and Lost

• Genesis of Story:

  • Inspired while training for a half-marathon, listening to music.
  • Premise: a song from decades ago goes viral, reuniting two middle-aged musicians.
  • Explores themes: passage of time, memory, love, change.
  • “It became not just about music, but the passage of time, about memory, about love, and the way we change as we grow older.” (05:06)

• Title Significance:

  • Chose "Found and Lost" rather than "Lost and Found" to reflect story rhythm and life cycles.
  • “We first experience connection before understanding loss. The inversion suggests that found always comes first.” (06:10)

3. Character Inspiration & Music

• Personal Connections:

  • Main character Jake shares Lovy’s background but is not a direct stand-in.
  • Jake’s musical talent inspired by Lovy’s brother.
  • “You know, we all write... write what you know. So I wrote from the point of view of... a young Jewish person and an older Jewish person.” (07:31)
  • No direct input from brother; inspiration revealed after book’s publication. (08:31)

• Approach to Music:

  • Emotional, spiritual, and psychological connection explored; minimal technical research.
  • Ran book past actual musicians for authenticity.
  • “I get this kind of bond between musician and listener. That really is more of a spiritual connection.” (09:02)

• Inclusion of Real-Life Musicians:

  • Featured cameos (Suzanne Vega, The Cramps, Lenny Kaye) to root story in 1980s Greenwich Village.
  • Selection based on historical presence, not personal preference.
  • “So I had a little fun with that.” (10:24)

4. Documentary-Style Narration

• Narrative Device:

  • Alternates between narrative and faux-documentary sections.
  • Used to explore fame, memory, and unreliable narration.
  • “Those sections let me explore how memory and fame shape the truth… the memory of what happened almost becomes a separate character.” (12:37)

• Reasoning:

  • Enjoys narratives and films that skip around in time.
  • Adds texture and varied perspective to the story. (14:01)

5. Jewish Themes, Antisemitism, and Religious Identity

• Not a Full Departure:

  • Despite narrative pivot, Jewish themes and antisemitism remain present.
  • Notable scene: characters confront religious prejudice.
  • Aim: to illustrate how faith language can be both wound and weapon.
  • “That passage... shows how faith language can be used to persuade, wound, control, even by an otherwise reasonable person.” (15:56)

• Spirituality in Music:

  • Contrasts Cait’s view of music as “divine” with Jake’s more secular but emotionally resonant approach.
  • “For her, music bridges heaven and earth, and for him, it bridges himself and other people.” (19:21)

6. Aging, Gender, and the Passage of Time

• Aging as Theme:

  • Addresses creativity and relevance in middle and later life.
  • Humor offsets realism (e.g., Jake injuring himself with a “windmill” onstage).
  • “I guess I wanted to remind readers that creativity doesn't end with youth and that it can deepen with time.” (22:35)

• Gendered Experience:

  • Acknowledges differences: men generally seen as more distinguished with age, women often marginalized.
  • “Perhaps we internalize it a little differently... that's just a statement of reality.” (24:23)

7. Place as Character

• Setting:
  • Michigan and New York are integral; local references and familiarity for local readers.
  • Interlochen Arts Camp features prominently, reflecting the author's own experiences.
  • “Place is very much also a character.” (37:09)

8. Time and Memory—Structure & Meaning

• Futuristic Sections:
  • Flash-forwards show how stories and legends evolve culturally over decades.
  • “Time itself is a character in the novel… I showed how memory can kind of mutate across decades.” (27:24)
  • Compares to how The Beatles are reinterpreted through new generations’ lenses.

9. Interfaith Romance

• Central Relationship:

  • Explores both divisions and harmonies of Judaism and Christianity.
  • Relationship modeled as conversation and negotiation, not conversion.
  • “Their interfaith love story isn't about one converting the other, but it's about conversation… they transcend something else. They become something different, greater than the sum of their parts.” (30:26)

• Contemporary Context:

  • Acknowledges the challenge of imagining interfaith optimism in post-October 7, 2023 world.
  • “I don't know if I could have written such an optimistic book after October 7, 2023.” (32:26)

10. Target Audience & Takeaways

• Genre and Readers:

  • Book positioned as “second chance romance,” but subverts tropes; appeals to broader audiences interested in music, faith, time, and character-driven stories.
  • Welcomes readers “curious how we change as we grow older, and what does it mean to forgive someone and forgive yourself.” (36:06)
  • “I don't moralize. I present the situation and let readers make their own meaning.” (36:06)

• Author’s Philosophy:

  • Book intended to be engaging, optimistic, and humorous despite serious themes.
  • “It's also fun to read, I hope, and I tried to make it that way... I think I said a few important things and made it fun, too.” (39:01)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Writing Fiction:

  • “I could tell the truth in a different way by inventing a story. And then there you have kind of this closed world where you can manipulate people and events and characters to tell a story, a true story, in a different way.” — Howard Lovy (03:30)

• On Imagination and Reality:

  • “I think this is a great marriage of my imagination and reality. And I found it fun and freeing too.” — Howard Lovy (03:30)

• On Title Rationale:

  • “The inversion suggests that found always comes first. We first experience connection before understanding loss.” — Howard Lovy (06:10)

• On Music’s Role:

  • “It became not just about music, but about the passage of time, about memory, about love, and the way we change as we grow older.” — Howard Lovy (05:06)

• On Fame and Memory:

  • “Those sections let me explore how memory and fame shape the truth... we’re unreliable narrators of our own lives, and public memory, like private memory, is selective and can be distorted.” — Howard Lovy (12:37)

• On Interfaith Dynamics:

  • “Their duets become dialogues between belief and doubt. And that's kind of the spiritual engine of the book.” — Howard Lovy (19:21)

• On Aging and Creativity:

  • “I wanted to remind readers that creativity doesn't end with youth and that it can deepen with time.” — Howard Lovy (22:35)

• On Place:

  • “Place is very much a character. I talk about Interlaken Arts Camp... that becomes a character in itself.” — Howard Lovy (37:09)

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Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• [02:10] – Howard Lovy’s biography and journalistic background
• [03:30] – Motivation and philosophy behind writing fiction
• [05:06] – Genesis of Found and Lost and themes explored
• [06:10] – Meaning behind the book’s title
• [09:02] – Research and depiction of music
• [10:24] – Real musicians’ inclusion and narrative choices
• [12:37] – Documentary-style narrative device
• [15:56] – Religious themes and antisemitism in the novel
• [19:21] – Contrasting religious/spiritual approaches through characters
• [22:35] – Reflections on aging and creativity
• [24:23] – Gendered perceptions of aging
• [27:24] – Flash-forwards and narrative use of time
• [30:26] – Interfaith romance and harmonizing worldviews
• [36:06] – Target audience and broader relevance
• [37:09] – The importance of place and setting
• [39:01] – On the book’s tone and intent

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Conclusion

This conversation between Howard Lovy and Alana provides a rich, multi-layered exploration of Found and Lost: The Jake and Cait Story—a novel that weaves together music, memory, religion, romance, and the unstoppable flow of time. Lovy’s blend of optimism and realism crafts a story that is heartfelt, thought-provoking, and rooted in personal and communal experience. Whether interested in second chances, the magic of music, or the challenge of bridging religious divides, listeners and prospective readers will find resonance in Lovy’s reflections and storytelling approach.

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Transcript

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[Alana (Interviewer)]

To the New Books Network. Today I have a privilege to talk to Howard Loewy and I enjoyed reading his book. I'll be talking about his book called Found and Lost. But before we start talking about the book, I would like Howard to introduce the audience to himself. Rather than for me to talk about him, I would like him to talk about himself and tell us a little bit about his biography or whatever you're willing to share with our audience.

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

Okay. Thank you. First, thank you for having me on your show, Alana. I appreciate it very much.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

You're welcome. My pleasure.

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

Well, I'm not sure where even to begin. I began my career as a journalist and I spent the first half of my career as working for newspapers and magazines and news services. And then something happened in the world and people stopped reading newspapers so I had to find something else to do. That's the short end of it anyway. But throughout my journalism career, I covered many things from science and technology to religion. But a through line throughout has been Jewish issues. I was managing editor at JTA in the early 2000s and late 90s and I kind of floated into the book world when I became executive editor of a book review magazine. And that set me on the path to becoming an author and also a book editor. So that's the Cliff Notes version of my life.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

Can you talk a little bit about your transition from journalism Specifically to fiction, because here is your fiction book. And I'm curious if you can share how this transition happened from one genre to a somewhat different genre. What was your inspiration?

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

Yeah, I'm trying to figure that out myself. I grew up, I spent my entire career writing nonfiction as a journalist. And something happened a few years ago. I got a little burned out covering serious issues as, you know, like anti Semitism. And so I let my imagination run wild and I decided that I could tell the truth in a different way by inventing a story. And then there you have kind of this closed world where you can manipulate people and events and characters to tell a story, a true story, in a different way. So I don't separate the two. I still use my. My journalism skills in that I describe situations and people and events as they would in real life. So I think this is a great marriage of my imagination and reality. And I found it fun and freeing too.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

I like your expression imagination run wild. But let us turn to your book and speak specifically. What was your inspiration to write this particular book on this particular topic? And I don't want to preface you your response by saying what this book is about. I'd rather you talk about your specific inspiration for this specific book and this specific topic.

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

Okay. Well, like I said, after years of covering serious topics like antisemitism and Jewish issues, I got a little burned out. I wanted to take a break. And so the inspiration struck while I was training for a half marathon a few years ago and I had music playing in my ears. So I imagined a simple premise. What if a song recorded 40 years ago suddenly went viral today, throwing two middle aged musicians back together? And then the story just kind of poured out for me after that and it became not just about music, but it became about the passage of time, about memory, about love, and the way we change as we grow, as we grow older.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

I'd like to turn to actually title of the book and I'm curious if you can talk a little bit about why have you chosen to entitle this book Found and Lost rather than Lost and Found? And what symbolism lies behind the choice of this title?

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

Well, I did that on purpose. Obviously it reflects the rhythm of the story. Jake and Kate first find each other through music, but eventually lose what they built. It's not a spoiler to say that it's a central mystery of the whole book. It also mirrors the cycle of discovery and regret that often define adult life. You know, what we gain and what slips away. And so the inversion suggests that found always comes first. We first experience connection before understanding loss. And so the book asks, you know, what happens when you think you found your. You found your destiny, your beshert, and then life takes it away. So there are different levels of things that are found and things that are lost throughout the book in terms of the characters and the events you mentioned.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

You got burned out focusing on antisemitism and Jewish issues and you decided to move in a different direction. But my feeling is that book was not completely moving away from this. But we can return to this topic later. So what I like to ask right now is how much of the protagonist is based on you, if it's okay for me to ask. So what is your personal relationship with music?

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

Yeah, you know, the main character, Jake, shares some aspects of my life. Obviously his Jewish background, his impulsive nature when he's young and more reflective later in life. But he's not a stand in for me. Some of it is actually my brother, who's the musician of the family, not me. And then there's some traits and characteristics that I've picked up in observations of others, but most of it comes really from my imagination. You know, we all write, they say, write what you know. So I wrote from the point of view of, you know, a young Jewish person and an older Jewish person, you know, because that's what I know. But other than that, there's a lot of difference in terms of our temperaments and our talents.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

Was there any impact or input from your brothers since you said he was a musician?

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

No, no. In fact, I told him after he read the book that some of it was based on him because he's amazing. I admire him. He can hear any tune. Ever since he was a kid, he could hear any tune on the radio and go up to the piano and play it like he's well practiced. So. No, I only told him recently.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

Interesting. Now, my question would be, how much research went into writing this book?

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

Well, it's not so much about musical techniques, but it's more about our connection to music emotionally and spiritually and psychologically and even religiously. And that is something that I didn't have to do a lot of research on because I feel it. I. I'm not a very good musician myself. You know, I played clarinet, you know, back in high school, but that's about it. But I'm a, I'm a music fan and, and kind of an aficionado. I grew up listening to classical music through my father. And I, I, and I get this kind of bond between Musician and listener. That really is more of a spiritual connection. And I also ran it by actual musicians and they said, yeah, you got it right. Not just how you make music, but how you feel while you make music interesting.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

And you have specific musicians that you have chosen to highlight in this book. What was this choice based on? Just your personal likes or something you felt fits better in the story or how did you decide whom to include?

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

Well, I included some real life musicians. Not necessarily because I was a fan of these musicians. Suzanne Vega's in there. The punk group the Cramps have kind of a cameo. A bunch of other musicians have cameos. What I did was I kind of reverse engineered the time period. And my protagonists were in Greenwich Village in 1985. And so I thought, who was there at that time? Well, Suzanne Vega was playing acoustic guitar in Washington Square park at that time. So I wrote her into the story as kind of this mentor for Jake and Kate. Lenny K was former guitarist for. For Patti Smith, who then became a producer. And so I've discovered that, well, he was hanging around the Village and CBGB in 1985, so let's write him into it too. So I had a little fun with that.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

Did his Jewish background play any role for you, Lenny Case, or not?

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

I'm sorry, say it again.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

Did Lenny Case Jewish background matter to you or wasn't really something that.

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

No, it didn't. Although I discovered later, oh yeah, he was Jewish. And at one time I was thinking about expanding his role a little bit, but I thought, well, he's a real live person who's still around and I don't want to get into any trouble.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

Okay. So one of the interesting things about your book that you incorporated these parts of documentary film, interjected the narrative with those pieces where you were talking about the documentary about Kate and Jake and you were going back and forth between the younger years and older years. And documentary always will end up with turning to the next chapter to next episode for us to. I thought it was really interesting how you did it. And I'm wondering, why did you decide to use this particular technique and describe documentary film in your book? What was your inspiration behind this particular approach?

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

Well, one of the themes in the book isn't just about music, but it's about our perception of music. And also it's about fame. And those sections let me explore how memory and fame shape the truth. Jake and Kate's story goes viral decades later and they're forced to see the path, the past, through the eyes of others. So they refuse to appear on camera. They don't want the public to see them as old. So the documentary becomes a collage of recollections and contradictions. They allowed me to show that we're unreliable narrators of our own lives and that public memory, like private memory, is selective and can be distorted. You know, you think back, you know, what were you doing 40 years ago? And maybe you edit your memories a little bit and only remember the good or only remember the bad. And so people can argue over what really happened. And so the memory of what happened almost becomes a separate character. And also I wanted to show kind of the show busy surface to contrast with their private truths.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

Yeah, this is very interesting the way you. Maybe there are more books like this. I haven't come across this particular insertion of documentary within the fictional narrative. I thought it was. Did a great job in my view. Interesting, yes.

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

But part of it reflects my own, I guess, adhd. I like to read books and watch movies that skip around in time a little bit. So that gave me a little bit of time to work with.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

And we can talk later, a little bit about your target audience might be. This particular approach might actually expand to different type of target audience as well. And we can turn to it later. But I want to return to the question that you mentioned before. That again, Aurora dimensions briefly that you were tired of antisemitism and Jewish issues. And yet, like I mentioned before, Jewish issues and antisemitism didn't particularly completely escape your writing, actually. And there are parts of that made me as a reader think about it and I'm sure other readers as well. So I'm referring Specifically to pages 232, 233, when Caius husband delivers a long speech from the point of view of Methodist minister. And in this speech he makes some rather unflattering references to Jews. For example, he describes Jacob Krosner, who is the main character, as a Jew of questionable beliefs and referring to the scordant guitar rhyme of a Jew. So what was your aim? Did you aim to alert the reader in this passage? And why did you feel it was important to include, given the book is otherwise mostly a story centered around music. So what I'm trying to get here is there was no full divorce, let's put it this way, from the issues of antisemitism and Judaism, of course. So when you did this kind of gentle reminder, what were you hoping to achieve?

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

Well, part of the, you know, one of the themes of the book is about public perception and not just what motivates us privately, but but how we appear to others. And religion is a motivator for many people, either people who believe in God or people who don't believe in God. It's a motivator either way. And so I try not to caricature. I've been studying religions, all religions, much of my life, and one thing that reviewers have told me that I'm proud of is that I don't resort to caricature, which happens in many books that deal with religion. So the passage that you're talking about, I don't want to give away too much, but it shows how faith language can be used to persuade wound control, even by an otherwise reasonable person. So it's important because this book isn't only a love story, it's about how belief shapes how we talk about each other. And so that particular character was hurt by Jake, so he lashed out, using the language of religion, because that's the lens through which he sees the world. And also part of it was intended as dark humor, since his comments about Jews weren't really about Jews, they were mostly asides to himself, hiding a deeper resentment of Jake. And so he lashed out, not at Jake, but through a side kind of a snide remark about Jews in general. Every drop of Jack Daniels is mellowed through sugar maple charcoal, giving Jack its smooth taste. That's what makes Jack Jack. Please drink responsibly.

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[Alana (Interviewer)]

So you mentioned already they have studied religion, your whole life and religion as a motivator. And in the book you often invoke religious language when writing about music. So, for example, for Kate, music has a divine essence. However, Jake seems to be reluctant to share the sentiment. Why did you choose to portray this spiritual connection to music so differently?

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

I feel like maybe you should answer that question because you're well schooled in religion. But here's my answer. Kate experiences music as sacred, while Jake approaches it as more human and visceral, more of a feeling that he's reluctant to say is spiritual. Although I think secretly, maybe he does see it as something. Maybe he doesn't believe it. You know, see it as God. But there's something spiritual there, not in the religious sense, but in the connection he has with Kate. But the contrast between the two is crucial because for her, music bridges heaven and earth, and for him, it bridges himself and other people. And so their duets become dialogues between belief and doubt. And that's kind of the spiritual engine of the book, the idea that art can unite even those who see the world through opposite lenses. And I wanted to explore what happens when your soulmate, B', shert, as we say in Judaism, experiences the same thing through different lenses. Their differences can create the spark. They finish each other's musical sentences, but still argue about what it means. And so that clash and the harmony are the point.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

To me, it was interesting because to some degree, each of them were not, in a nutshell, representing their own religion. Like you mentioned briefly, that for Jacob, it was more community, and for Cather was more of this transcendent connection to the divine. So I think, in a nutshell, you gain the feeling of these characters being true to who they are religiously as well. Jake might not be talking, like you said, about religion in the same language as K does. And yet you can feel he is deeply Jewish in all his approaches. So I think he did a great job without really invoking religious language for him and yet communicating him as a Jew. If I. Oh, good.

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

I'm glad that came across. Thank you.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

That. To me, that I don't know. Again, each reader reads through his or her own lens. So my lens might be different, someone else's lens. So. But that's. I'm sharing my lens. So the. Let's move on. So there is another very important topic, and you already mentioned at the beginning, it's about. It's related to our young age and our old age. So there's lots of references to aging. So what were your hopes when you were referencing this idea of aging, and what did you hope to invoke in the reader? There was a lot of moments where, especially in relation to Kate as a female, I can relate to the fears and how you are seen in the world. And also she started to be seen almost youthful when she was performing. There's a lot of interesting topics connected. So what were you hoping to evoke in the reader?

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

Yeah, I'm glad you picked up on that. Yeah, she was seen as attractive and sexy when she was on stage, but when she was off stage in a different context, people looked right through her because she was just a middle aged lady. So yeah, you know, I just turned 60, so I'm, you know, I'm, I'm. It's in my personality not to, to go gently into that good night, you know, so I, I go through many crises, you know, I can't believe how old I am. But you know, I guess I wanted to remind readers that creativity doesn't end with youth and that it can deepen with time. You know, there's humor, I hope in scenes like Jake injuring himself trying to play like he did when he was 18, you know, he tries to do a Pete Townsend windmill power cord and hurts his back, you know. So as you get older, I wanted to also show that there's wisdom and you don't necessarily have the emotional room to be as combative as you did when you were young. And so the book asked what do we let go of and what do we keep. And again, I've been obsessed with this idea of time even back when I was young. What happens to people over time? When I was in elementary school, I wrote a note to myself not to be open for another 20 years so I could see how time has affected me. So it's been a little obsession of mine.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

Do you feel there is a little bit of differences in terms how you portray aging for female and for male in your view?

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

Well, I hope not. I hope it was evenhanded. I think I did get some criticism by one critic who said I focused too much on how much weight Kate had gained in old age when she got older. But that was in the context of how she would under of her self image, how the public would accept her after seeing nothing but, you know, her 19 year old self. How will they react to her 59 year old self? And I think that's very real whether you're a man or a woman. Perhaps we internalize it a little differently. And for men, men are expected to get gray and they're considered to be more distinguished as they get older, whereas women in this very surface society are considered less as they get older. And that's just a statement of reality.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

Yes, I think it was very realistically portrayed. So we talked a little bit about Lenny Kay. My question is if there is a specific choice, but why did you choose Lenny Kay as their music promoter?

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

Well, I wanted to bridge real music history, particularly the 1980s New York scene and Jake and Kate. So he kind of stands for this authenticity, this blend of punk and poetry that kind of captures the book's era and it kind of grounds the novel in something real. Like I say, I kind of reverse engineered who would have been an active music producer in the village in 1985, and I chose him. But he's also somebody. He's still active today. So he's somebody who embodies this bridge between eras. So in the documentary, within the book, he's interviewed 40 years later about Jake and Kate and what it was like to produce these kids and whether these songs would have been hits 40 years ago or whether they needed to sort of age like wine. And Lenny Kay is perfect. I'm glad I kind of discovered him because he bridges both generations.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

So another question that I have, similar to my question about inserting those documentary episodes, another interesting thing you used in this book as placing your parts of your book, last parts of your novel in the future. And what does this futuristic setting symbolize?

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

Well, time itself is a character in the novel. So the future scenes kind of symbolize how stories like songs echo beyond their creators, how legendary can become truth. So when I projected beyond this year, I showed how memory can kind of mutate across decades. So it's not prophecy, it's more perspective. You know, how might today's emotions look when viewed through tomorrow's eyes? To show how memory morphs over time, it's not only for individuals but for the culture. In the flash forward, people remember Jake and Kate through their own political or religious lens. You know, because Kate was religious, she was seen as one thing. And because Jake was Jewish and secular, he was seen as another thing. And these things go in and out of fashion over the years. I projected way far ahead, up to 100 years in the future. And I showed how things and ideas morph over time. You know, for example, if you take a look at the Beatles now, it's, you know, we're coming up on, you know, 60 years after their heyday, and people remember them through the prism of their own time. You know, and that can change over time. I think, you know, my son was talking about, well, John Lennon. He was a wife abuser. I said, well, yeah, he was in the early days. Later he reformed. But it's sort of like that's how he's remembered now in this negative light, because part of that was true. And so as things, as society change, as norms change, our perception of who these celebrities were also changed.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

This was another interesting creative device that you use in novel. I thought it was interesting to think, like you said, how the time perception changes and how we look at different characters in art and music, in anything through the lens of time. It's very interesting to think about it. Yeah. And you already mentioned, we mentioned a couple of times in our conversation, religion. And you also mentioned that Jake was not secular and Kate was religious. So I think, in my view, Jake, regardless of being secular, there is a lot of spiritual moments in him. And we can debate what religious actually is, but that's not what we're going to do.

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

Like I say, you're the expert on that. I love to hear your ideas.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

So I would like us to talk about you to talk about the role of religion for both of them and how the relationship actually worked, despite not because of it.

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

Right? Yeah. Yeah. Well, the religions both divide them. You know, they argue about. You know, I have one scene where they're arguing about what the Trinity is. And, you know, I made it, you know, through the eyes of teenagers, where things are a little more judgmental. And Jake is very judgmental about. About how, you know, about certain Christian concepts. Whereas Jake's Judaism shapes his identity even as he questions his belief. And Kate's Christianity, that defines her, you know, her yearning for meaning. And so their interfaith love story isn't about one converting the other, but it's about conversation. It's about who. How two worldviews can harmonize, like instruments in a band. And the concept of beshert, or destiny kind of threads through the book, the idea that some bonds are meant to transcend doctrinal lines. So I'm not answering the question. I'm asking the question. How could this happen? Two people from different faith backgrounds that really shouldn't. Shouldn't be together. Somehow when they get together, they transcend something else. They become something different, greater than the sum of their parts. So that overrides everything. And I made sure that when they play music, they become one voice. It's not that they become two voices that sound together, but these two disparate things become actually one thing. So I don't know. I don't know if I'm explaining that. Well, yes, you do. One thing I don't know if I could have written such an optimistic book after October 7, 2023. I wrote this before then. Could I have written it after that? I don't know. But that's where that was my state of mind before kind of the world changed.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

Do you feel that the interfaith Idea died with October 7th?

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

That's a very good question. Yeah. You know, in that case, we're not talking about interfaith, we're talking about inter belief, which is kind of a different thing. And frankly, I haven't really thought too much about it in the context of this book. So I don't know. It's a good question.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

Will be next book, right?

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

Yes. Because. Yeah, I didn't think at all in relation to October 7th. I read this book kind of in a way, trying to distance myself from the current events, to be honest. And none of my questions came like what would have happened if.

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

Yeah.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

So when you mentioned it now, the question came to mind because first I was thinking, can. Can this book be some kind of example as a model for interface couples to find the common ground through certain level of certain things. Music or poetry or whatever, you know, name it. But as you were talking and you said it, I was thinking that how do we know if it's still possibility? Hopefully there is. Maybe we're moving back to more healthy environment. But I. I don't know. But again, I didn't think. Yeah, I didn't think about it when I was reading it all. It's really interesting, the fact that I. Not in the moment it crossed my mind. So my last question, second to last, is who is your target audience and what do you hope they can take away from reading this book?

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

Well, it's funny, when I wrote the book, I wasn't even thinking about genre after I wrote the book and my publisher was trying to categorize it and I was trying to categorize it for marketing purposes. And so the closest thing I came to was Second Chance Romance, which is shocking to me because I don't. I don't read romances. And there's a sub genre called Second Chances I never even knew. But romance authors would be, I think, annoyed with me because they don't follow all the tropes of romance. So I think if you enjoy romance, Second Chance Romance, you might enjoy this, but don't expect it to follow all those tropes. So I think it's broader than that. It speaks to readers who are drawn to music, Music, faith, Second chances. It's about the passage of time about aging relationships. And I guess it's just anybody who likes intelligent fiction that has some humor, has some pathos, has some music, has some great musical references. And there's a general optimistic feel to it. You know, Jake and Kate, when they're young, are very naive and optimistic. They're in contrast to the punk scene, which they kind of clash with a little bit.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

It's just funny part, actually.

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

Yeah. Yeah. And also, you know, anybody who's curious, like me, how do we change as we grow older? And what does it mean to forgive someone and forgive yourself? You know, I don't moralize. I present the situation and let readers make their own meaning.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

I'm not a romance reader. I didn't think about it as a romance. I actually like the humor and I like this conflict in a way. But I don't want to give away too much of the plot. I just want to say that it's interesting when you mentioned romance. And in that romance, readers will not be happy because you didn't follow all the tropes. I wouldn't know what tropes are because I never read romance.

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

I didn't.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

My last question would be to you. What do you wish I asked, but left out.

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

I'm sorry.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

I said again, what did you wish I would ask you but left out? Any question that you feel is important to address. And I didn't ask you.

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

Oh, well, I think you covered a lot of things. You know, one thing that is there and you wouldn't know because you're not a Michigander like I am. But a lot of it is based in Michigan except the parts that are in New York. But it's very, you know, it's very much rooted in my local community too. And is local. People will have fun spotting local things like the annual polka fest, things like that. And Place is very much a character. I talk about Interlaken Arts Camp, where I personally was a camp counselor back in the 80s when I was in college. And so that becomes a character in itself because they. There are 1985 scenes there and 20, 25 scenes in the same place. And what this place means to them then and what it means to them in kind of a bittersweet way 40 years later. So Place is very much also a character. Yeah.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

That definitely for me, will be difficult to relate. But I can see. I know that I'm right now in the writing group. And a lot of times people talk about place making so much of a difference and significance. And people even ask, well, what street was it on? It's so interesting to me because as somebody who did not grow up in this country, to me it always goes over my head. It's like, does it really matter? But I can see it probably does.

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

Right? Because you got away from where you were from. Yeah, exactly.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anything else you wish to address? So before we finish?

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

Well, I make it sound like it's such a serious, you know, book with, with so many competing themes and, you know, religion, music, aging. It's also fun to read, I hope, and I tried to make it that way so it's, you know, it's not going to win a Pulitzer Prize, but. But I'm proud of it and I think I said a few important things and made it fun, too.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

Yes. And I like the humor and I like the optimism.

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

Good. Thank you.

[Alana (Interviewer)]

Thanks. You mentioned before, thank you so much for your time and thank you for talking to me.

[Howard Loewy (Author)]

Hear that?

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[Howard Loewy (Author)]

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