Liz Parker (Photo by Leanna Creel)
Literary agent Liz Parker recently released her debut novel, “All Are Welcome,” an emotionally rich, perceptively funny look at an unlikely marriage joining two high-society families. As the novel begins, the protagonist, Tiny McAllister, is boarding a plane to Bermuda, where she plans to marry Caroline, the love of her life. But little does Tiny know, the intimate destination wedding will be threatened not only by a monsoon but also by a surge of secrets, long-held jealousies and complicated relationships. In superficial ways, “All Are Welcome” reflects Parker’s own life experiences. Like her protagonist, the author grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut, where societal rules and regulations abound. And like Tiny, Parker is the first openly gay person in her extended family, which includes, on her mother’s side, the Reynolds family of Richmond; Parker’s great-great-grandfather is Richard S. Reynolds, who founded Reynolds Metals. We talked with Parker about her novel and what it means to be part of a prominent family.
Richmond magazine: How do you see “All Are Welcome” fitting into the canon of LGBTQIA+ literature?
Liz Parker: A lot of fiction depicting gay characters focuses on the character’s coming out and the immediate experience. I have a lot of friends for whom it’s an ongoing conversation with their families about what it means to be gay. It’s sort of a rolling process. You come out and there’s this moment, but then there’s an entire life. I really think there’s room in the canon for books that talk about this.
In my full-time life, I’m a literary agent. I’ve always seen my list as including the books that push the envelope and challenge readers to think about something new, and then the books that expand the envelope and invite readers in to consider something they never thought they’d consider before. I really see “All Are Welcome” as an expanding-the-envelope contribution, where the goal is that there’s something here for every reader, regardless of where they stand.
RM: When talking about the book, you have brought up the idea of a spectrum of acceptance. What does that mean to you?
Parker: Just as the conversations can be ongoing, people are allowed to adjust their thoughts. In real life, my parents today are as accepting and loving and supportive as you could possibly be. It was never a journey in which our relationship was on the table. But it was absolutely a first time, and a lot has changed since 2004. So I wanted to explore a family’s reaction in a way that wasn’t so black and white.
RM: Why are secrets such a big theme in the book?
Parker: I think secrets drive our personal agendas. The only person in the book with no secrets is Tiny, ironically enough. Every other character has something. I’m interested in what secrets do to the psyche and what it means to hold someone else’s secret. Caroline is holding her parents’ secrets, and that’s part of what drives her inability to really grow because they’ve put this pressure and information on her. She comes into the marriage with their secret and a secret she’s keeping from herself.
RM: Your mother is part of the well-known Reynolds family. What does it mean to be part of such a prominent family?
Parker: I come from a family of really strong women. My mom is one of the strongest women I’ve ever met. Her mother was strong, and of course, her grandmother ― my great-grandmother ― was an incredibly strong matriarch. These generations of women have had really strong visions of what the world could be and how to contribute to that world. I feel like this [book] is an opportunity for me to uphold my end of the bargain as the oldest grandchild in this family.
