A novel that draws from two lives lived by Medford author Libby Gill — one in Southern California working in television, another in Southern Oregon learning about soil — recently landed her a book deal with a major publisher.

“Malibu Summer,” a work of contemporary women’s fiction published May 21 by Penguin Books, is a story of grief, gardening, Hollywood and opposites attracting that was largely born in Southern Oregon.

It tells the story of a Bay Area soil scientist named Ivy who grieves the loss of her husband by taking a sabbatical working in the Malibu mansion garden belonging to Conrad, a widower TV producer.

Penguin Associate Editor Marie Michels said in a statement that it was the novel’s characters that drew the major publishing imprint to pick up Gill’s novel.

“Libby writes so beautifully about the landscape in California, we knew immediately we wanted to read this book again and again!” Michels wrote. “But if the setting drew us in, her characters made us want to stay. Ivy and Conrad are complex and interesting — just the type of characters you want to succeed in finding a second chance at happiness.”

Gill said in an interview at her historic East Medford home that much of the research for the main character of Ivy was done in Southern Oregon. The character restores a garden in Malibu that was beloved by Conrad’s recently deceased wife, and Gill drew from her experience working to restore her own garden at her 1931-built house — once home to local architect Frank C. Clark — that she and her husband bought in spring 2021.

“When I got here, I thought, ‘I need to learn about gardens,'” Gill said. “It was during the pandemic, so I took a horticulture class at OSU online.”

Soil science particularly resonated with Gill, she said. She had learned a little bit potting plants in Los Angeles, she said, but the OSU Extension classes taught her everything from pH tests to soil composition to identifying insects.

She pointed to squash and melon crops she recently planted in her backyard garden, and talked about how she “just kept taking classes and trying stuff without a clue what would happen.” She also pointed to her green bean plant, and mentioned how, in the book, Ivy plants a green bean tower for Conrad’s young stepson to hide inside.

“It just came from real life,” Gill said. “I was just having fun with it, and it just found its way into the book.”

She talked with a few farmers, an agriculture journalist, a friend in Iowa who owns a farm and consulted with many Master Gardeners.

“It’s like everywhere you look there’s a Master Gardener here — so lots of people to answer questions,” Gill said.

Creating the character of washed-up TV producer Conrad came from Gill’s years of experience working in television, heading up media relations for Sony, Universal and Turner Broadcasting.

“I had a firsthand look at the television industry, and I decided that was a fun area to write about — so much craziness, characters and fun,” Gill said.

Finding ‘the perfect time’

As with many creative works these past few years, Gill’s first foray into fiction was possible, in part, because of the extra time afforded her during the coronavirus pandemic.

She worked as an executive coach at the time, and has written six nonfiction business development and leadership books. For years, though, she harbored a desire to write a novel. On plane trips, she would tinker with rough drafts of a fish-out-of-water story that could work as a “little bit of a sendup” of the TV industry, but she would often shelve them because her nonfiction work kept her coaching business going.

A new nonfiction book would help her land speaking engagements at major corporations, and they also worked to promote her business through appearances on national television.

When everything ground to a halt in the spring of 2020, Gill found opportunity.

“I thought, this is the perfect time to finish this,” Gill said. She spent the next year and a half working with a cross-country group of writers who encouraged each other with their manuscripts.

From submission to publication, Gill said the process took about a year and a half. Her agent shopped the manuscript to multiple publishers, and Gill said the first to say yes was Pamela Dorman, senior vice president and publisher on the Penguin Publishing Group’s Viking Books Team. Dorman’s more than three-decade career has included household-name bestsellers such as “Bridget Jones’s Diary” by Helen Fielding and “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd.

“She’s a big shot,” Gill said.

Dorman’s imprint focuses on “well-written, accessible debut fiction,” according to its website. Early reviews show that Gill’s novel fits the mold. A Publisher’s Weekly review says “it’s easy to fall for the colorful cast, and the exploration of grief rings true,” then concludes: “Gill is off to a good start.” Woman’s World magazine, meanwhile, made it a recent book club pick, calling the novel “the perfect pick if you’re looking for a tear-jerking but heartfelt story.”

Locally, Gill said the Rogue Valley Country Club’s book club has agreed to discuss her novel in August.

“I think it’s a good book-club book,” Gill said, hoping that others take it on.

“Malibu Summer” is available at local bookstores, through major online stores and through the Penguin Random House website.

The Jackson County Library Services catalog shows that two copies of the novel are being processed into their system now — one for the Central Point branch,  another in Phoenix. As of Thursday, a digital audiobook of the novel was currently checked out with 13 people on the waiting list.

Since the publication of the novel, Gill said she closed her coaching practice to focus on the new book and her next novel. She hinted that her next novel will involve a talk show, “which is also a world I worked in a lot.”

“As an outside consultant, I did all the press for Dr. Phil (McGraw),” Gill said. She also worked in promotions and public relations for syndicated talk shows in the 1990s that included Sally Jessy Raphael, Ricki Lake, Jerry Springer and Maury Povich.

“That seemed like a good, fun next-place-to-go — and put it in the ’90s during the height of the craziness about talk shows,” Gill said.

Gill had her first local book event at Bloomsbury Books in Ashland in May and has more events planned this summer.

She will be a panel presenter at the Willamette Writers Conference running July 31 through Aug. 4 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Portland. She will speak during the workshops “Publishing Paths” and “Your First Book,” and will lead a “Marketing Your Nonfiction Book” presentation. For more information, see willamettewritersconference.org.

Gill will give an author talk at 4 p.m. Aug. 6 at the Rogue Valley Country Club, 2660 Hillcrest Road in Medford. The presentation is an opportunity for readers to ask Gill questions, so attendees can expect spoilers. Those interested in attending are asked to RSVP before Aug. 1 by emailing libby@libbygill.com.