Boston College Chronicle editor Sean Smith has written for a living for the better part of four decades, but this summer he has published his first work of fiction, Transformation Summer. Smith’s debut novel focuses on 16-year-old Seth, who reluctantly and rather bitterly joins his mother at a personal-growth camp, Toward Transformation, the summer following his parents’ separation—a split that has mystified and angered him. Much to his unexpected but pleasant surprise, Seth finds not only camaraderie among the other kids who have accompanied their parents to the camp, but acceptance, romance, and self-discovery. However, it’s the everlasting impact of this brief but life-changing sojourn that Seth grapples with immediately upon his return home, and even as he grows into adulthood. According to the publisher, Transformation Summer is “not just a coming-of-age novel, but an exploration of how we experience memories of youth.” Said Smith: “One of the major themes that emerges is whether a memory can become an end in itself, even more important than the people, places, or events it’s associated with. And does the memory, even as it enriches us, maybe prevent us from moving forward?” Read more in BC News.