By Todd Leopold
CNN
(CNN) -- When Anita Diamant started writing her just-released second novel, "Good Harbor" (Scribner), a few years ago, it was just "the next idea that popped up," she says. The idea, inspired by walks in the Massachusetts coastal town of Gloucester, was relatively simple: the friendship of two women and the changes in their lives over the course of one summer.
There was no pressure; Diamant was still best known as the author of several books on Jewish practice and one mildly successful novel, "The Red Tent," which -- at the time -- was languishing in bookstores.
But then something happened. "The Red Tent," a historical novel based on the biblical story of Jacob's daughter, Dinah, became that rarest of publishing commodities -- a word-of-mouth bestseller. And Diamant, who was still working on "Good Harbor," realized that her new book was going to have a tough act to follow.
The prospect made her nervous for a time, she acknowledges, but in the end, she says she could only do her best.
"Since I had been working on ('Good Harbor') for a couple years before 'The Red Tent' became a hit, it was only when it became a bestseller did I get 'second-novelitis,' " the 50-year-old author says in an interview from her Boston-area home. "But I had support from my writing group and ... you just have to write the next book."
The value of friendship
"Good Harbor" is a very different book from "The Red Tent." The two friends who meet in Gloucester, Kathleen and Joyce, are undergoing a variety of personal crises. Kathleen, a librarian in her late 50s, has been diagnosed with an early form of breast cancer and is still mourning the loss of a son 25 years earlier. Joyce, a writer in her mid 40s, is trying to come up with a sequel to a successful romance novel.
Both are struggling with relationships with their children and their husbands. Throughout the summer, their friendship provides a support that helps them cope with their problems.
The value of friendship is really what the book is about, says Diamant.
"I think it's a part of life that's undervalued," she says. "Families are important, but it's our friends that keep us together -- (they're) important to our happiness and mental health."
The book's characters often hide things from their families: Joyce has a hard time communicating with her husband and daughter and has a short-lived affair; despite a supportive husband, Kathleen tells him little about her breast cancer treatment, and the two treat the subject of their dead son with silence.
Diamant is careful to note that the families in "Good Harbor" are nothing out of the ordinary. "These are not dysfunctional families," she says. "They're highly functional. But they protect each other from their problems. It's a garden-variety problem. ... I think people protect each other in families a lot, out of love."
In the spotlight
The subject of faith also comes up in "Good Harbor." The two women are Jewish and meet at a synagogue; Joyce spends much of the book trying to decide what to do with a sculptured Madonna left by the previous owner of her house. A rabbi and Catholic priest play brief but key roles.
Faith is a subject close to Diamant's heart. The daughter of Holocaust survivors, her earlier works, including "The New Jewish Wedding" and "Living a Jewish Life," helped establish her name in publishing, and some of the success of "The Red Tent" is due to its twist on a biblical subject.
"Religion is an important part of my life," she says. But Diamant isn't concerned about overreaching her audience.
"I don't think the book has a heavy religious theme ... or that there's 'inside baseball' stuff in the book," she says. "I couldn't let (my own interest in religion) stop me."
Despite some similarities between her and her characters, such as the Gloucester setting and Joyce's occupation as a writer, "Good Harbor" is not particularly autobiographical, Diamant says. "I haven't lived this life," she says. "I've never had breast cancer. I did have a 12-year-old daughter," she adds with a chuckle.
"The Red Tent" built slowly, with book clubs and independent bookstores helping make it a success. "Good Harbor" debuts with a much brighter spotlight on it. With her "second-novelitis" put to rest, Diamant doesn't mind.
"My fingers are crossed," she says. "By following 'The Red Tent,' this book has a platform that 'Tent' didn't have. This time," she says, "people will be able to find it."
