San Francisco playwright and author Lynne Kaufman is taking a spin in the murder-mystery romance genre with her new novel, “The Oxford Affair.”
Writing has been just a hobby for Kaufman until she entered a master’s program in English Literature at Columbia, and took a writing workshop at the UC Berkeley Extension. Since then, the Ingleside Terraces resident has written over 20 plays, many of which have been produced nationally, and now five novels.
“Writing, it's a great way to know what you think,” Kaufman said. “There's a kind of aspect of your mind and specificity and language that it's challenging and frustrating, but it's so rewarding.”
This novel, written 10 years ago, draws on the culture and historic scenery that Kaufman experienced during her 25 years running UC Berkeley’s Oxford Scholars Program, which included a “The English Detective Story” course. She retired in 2022. The opportunity to publish came when she received an email from her women’s writing group about the publisher Measure Publishing seeking pieces to publish.
The novel explores the romantic dynamic between Susan Klein, the director of an adult summer school program that she was sent to Oxford to oversee, and Southern restaurateur Nelson Sinclair, a prospective donor to the college who is dealing with attempts on his life. As they investigate the death of the college’s bursar, events mimic the “English Detective Story” course Sinclair is taking.
The novel can be purchased from a variety of retailers, and Kaufman will be hosting a book talk at the Corte Madera Books Passage on May 16.
“It's kind of an insider's view to English academia, and I hope a good read,” Kaufman said. “I hope it's fun and people enjoy it.”
The Ingleside Light caught up with Kaufman to learn more about “The Oxford Affair.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What does your writing process look like from start to finish?
I really prefer writing plays to novels. It has form. I have to be with something for a while, with the idea.
I have the arc of where it's going to go, and then you just start seeing the characters and hearing them. I tend not to do a lot of rewriting. Once it's down, it leads to the next thing. Once it's cooking, it's integrated for me. It can be blocked, like “Oh my God. Now what?” but I just kind of stay with trust and move through it. You can always go back and make it better.
Is there anything you discovered while writing “The Oxford Affair” that took you by surprise?
Living in a place for a while, it really does mean something. I ran these educational trips for 25 years, and almost all of them were focused on a particular theme, so I guess it's the learning in the place where it happened. We did courses on the English country house, English landscaping or the Arts and Crafts movement. Since it was the university, every trip I put together had that learning. It was a reason to be there. You weren't just a tourist. You were immersing yourself. I’m so glad I wrote it. This is good work, not just as a writer, but I provided an experience. Lifelong learning does, and these adults were very different than undergrads. The undergrads were having a great time flirting and drinking, which was appropriate for that time. The adults were really just soaking it up, and I thought, “Oh, this is worthwhile.”
Do you have a favorite scene or moment from your latest book?
I really like the humor of it. I love humor, and the whole concept of British food comes through this; that’s the joke, and the guy who's the love interest of our protagonist is a restaurateur. He wants to set up a chair at Oxford for gastronomy, and you know that's what's funny. I like the humor in it because I so admire British wit.
Why should people read “The Oxford Affair”?
If you've been to Oxford, it will absolutely spruce up your memories. If you haven't been to Oxford, this is a way to go. It's a way to get there and immerse yourself, and it's a love story. It's a romance between older people. It was not their first rodeo, these two, and what that's like, and to figure out some dirty business going on.
