Some stories linger long after the final page—not because of a shocking twist, but because they quietly ask questions we've all wrestled with. Questions about identity. Belonging. Family. The stories we tell ourselves. And whether we ever truly leave our past behind.
Those were the conversations that filled the room during the Chicago Literary Salon's August gathering, where readers joined Rowan Beaird to celebrate the release of her beautiful new novel, Tenderness.
Hosted in the warm, candlelit dining room at Le Sud, the evening began the way every Chicago Literary Salon does: with a cocktail hour that gave guests time to meet fellow readers, browse beautiful signed copies of Tenderness from Three Avenues Bookshop, and settle into the intimate atmosphere before the conversation began.
After welcoming everyone, Chicago Literary Salon founder Ashley Hasty introduced Rowan for an onstage conversation exploring the inspiration behind the novel, its unforgettable setting, and the universal questions hidden beneath its suspenseful premise.
While Tenderness centers on a bride who has recently escaped the infamous Synanon cult before her wedding weekend on a secluded island, Rowan revealed that the novel actually began somewhere far more ordinary.
"It wasn't the cult. It was inspired by a time in my late twenties and early thirties when I felt like most of my time and money was being spent going to other people's weddings."
One particular wedding changed the way she thought about the setting forever.
"Weddings are this really rare moment in our lives when anyone who has ever known or loved us is suddenly under one roof. If you're the sort of couple who's keeping secrets... that's the moment those secrets can come out."
That idea became the emotional foundation of Tenderness.
Throughout the conversation, Rowan returned again and again to the question that quietly sits beneath the novel's mystery:
"Whether or not we can ever know ourselves—or the people that we love."
Originally, she intended for the story to be told almost entirely through the perspectives of two people who loved the protagonist, Shay. But as early readers responded, she realized something important.
"You actually can't. And that's a problem."
Giving Shay more of her own voice transformed both the structure of the novel and the larger questions it asks about identity, perception, and the unknowable parts of every person.
Ashley asked whether people can ever truly reinvent themselves or whether our past always travels with us. Rowan's answer sparked one of the evening's richest discussions.
"I personally think that we can never reinvent ourselves."
Reflecting on motherhood, she shared the observation that immediately resonated with readers around the room.
"When my daughter was born, I remember seeing her and thinking, 'There you are.' You are your full self from two minutes old."
The conversation naturally turned toward Synanon, the real-life organization that inspired the fictional cult in the novel. Rowan admitted she has long been fascinated by cults—not because of their sensational headlines, but because of the ordinary people who join them.
"Most people that join cults are people that are very similar to me."
What surprised her most during years of research was realizing how often people encounter these organizations during moments of transition or vulnerability.
"I realized how possible that would have been at different moments in my own life."
Rather than approaching the subject from a place of judgment, Rowan wanted to understand the human desire for belonging, certainty, and community.
That idea ultimately led to the title itself.
After abandoning an earlier working title, Rowan discovered that Synanon was originally called Tender Loving Care. The phrase immediately captured the heart of the novel.
"The only way to form connection and find community and find love is through removing that hard shell and being our most tender selves."
Perhaps the evening's most memorable conversation centered on the different versions of ourselves that exist in different relationships.
"The person that I am to my husband is different than the person my sister knows. It's different than the person my daughter knows... I think that's inherently why it's impossible to know someone fully."
It was a sentiment that perfectly echoed one of the novel's central themes—and prompted plenty of discussion long after the formal interview concluded.
As always at the Chicago Literary Salon, the conversation didn't end when the Q&A did.
Guests transitioned into dinner at Le Sud, where Rowan joined readers at the tables for a relaxed evening of food, wine, and thoughtful conversation. Conversation cards inspired by the novel encouraged guests to continue exploring the book's themes together, while the salon's intentionally small size allowed everyone the opportunity to spend meaningful time with the author throughout the evening.
The night concluded with personalized book signings, giving each guest the chance to chat one-on-one with Rowan before heading home with a signed copy of Tenderness and, perhaps, a few new questions to continue thinking about long after the evening ended.
A heartfelt thank you to Rowan Beaird for such an insightful and generous conversation, to Le Sud for hosting us so beautifully, to Three Avenues Bookshop for providing signed copies of Tenderness, and to EEBauer Photography for capturing the evening so wonderfully.
We'll see you at the next Chicago Literary Salon.
Tuesday, August 4, 2026 | 6:00 PM | Le Sud, 2301 W. Roscoe St. Chicago, IL 60618
How well can we ever know the people we love?
Join us for an unforgettable evening with author Rowan Beaird as we celebrate Tenderness, a mesmerizing novel of family secrets, cults, complicated loyalties, and the hidden lives we carry beneath the surface.
Set during a wedding weekend on a remote island off the coast of Virginia, Tenderness begins as family and friends gather to celebrate the marriage of Shay O'Connor and Andrew Pruitt. But the whispers begin long before the ceremony. Shay has recently escaped Synanon, the notorious real-life cult that captivated headlines in the 1970s. Why did a woman with every apparent advantage—a loving family, an Ivy League education, and a promising future—become entangled in such a world? And has she truly left it behind?
As the wedding day draws closer, old friendships are tested, buried histories resurface, and unsettling questions begin to emerge. Told through the interwoven perspectives of Shay, her brother William, and her longtime friend Joel, Tenderness unfolds as both a gripping mystery and a deeply human story about love, identity, forgiveness, and the secrets that shape us.
Your evening includes:
A signed hardcover copy of Tenderness from our partner bookstore, Three Avenues Bookshop
A welcome cocktail and a curated menu from Le Sud
A lively conversation with Rowan Beaird exploring cults and belonging, family dynamics, friendship, reinvention, romantic longing, and the challenge of truly seeing ourselves and one another
Thoughtfully designed conversation prompts to spark reflection and connection—no prior reading required
Atmospheric, suspenseful, and impossible to put down, Tenderness transports readers to the volatile cultural landscape of the 1970s while asking timeless questions about who we become, what we leave behind, and whether love can survive the truths we uncover.
Join us for an evening of cocktails, cuisine, conversation, and one of the summer's most captivating novels.
Seating is extremely limited. Reserve your place today.
About Rowan Beaird:
Rowan Beaird is a fiction writer whose work has appeared in The Kenyon Review, The Southern Review, and The Common, among others. She is the recipient of the Ploughshares Emerging Writer Award, and she has received scholarships from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and StoryStudio. Her first novel, The Divorcées, was named a best book by Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, People, The Independent, and the Chicago Review of Books. Her second novel, Tenderness, will be published in July 2026.