Staff Picks Category: New England

Summer Longing by Jamie Brenner [Book]

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Brenner returns to Provincetown, setting of The Forever Summer (2017), with new central characters and a familiar supporting cast of residents and locations. Ruth Cooperman rents Shell House from Elise and Fern for the summer, only to find a baby girl abandoned on the doorstep her first morning there. Rather than reporting the baby to the authorities, Elise begins taking care of her (and growing attached) while they all wait to see if someone they know is missing a baby.

Between a disenchanted career woman, an unhappy widow, a college student home for the summer, a real estate agent and his handyman husband, restless retirees, evolving marriages, estranged daughters, complicated relationships, and summer lovers, there’s sure to be someone for readers to relate to.

Seemingly impossible situations resolve themselves by the end of the summer in the tidiest ways, allowing some to change their lives for the better and others to continue living golden-tinged existences in a charming and artistic community.

Fans of Elin Hilderbrand, beaches, summer, and family are sure to enjoy this perfect-for-your-vacation read.

The Summer I Met Jack by Michelle Gable [Book]

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Gable (The Book of Summer, 2017) offers an unvarnished fictional view of a maid’s affair with a young Jack Kennedy and its repercussions throughout her life, and possibly for US history. In 1950, Alicia Darr is a Polish displaced person (DP) working at a movie theater in Hyannis when she is taken on as a temporary maid at the crowded and chaotic Kennedy summer house. She’s just 21 years old and has already reinvented herself more than once since living in prewar affluence. Her beauty catches the eye of Jack, then a young congressman, and they are soon involved in a passionate affair. Alicia is an excellent match for Jack intellectually, sexually, and socially, until a secret from her past causes him to call off their engagement. Alicia leaves Hyannis for Hollywood, and begins to make her own way, maintaining intermittent contact with Jack until he becomes president.

Gable brings her flair for multigenerational stories rooted in New England summers to this inspired-by-a-true-story tale that will appeal to Kennedy watchers, seasonal romantics, and fans of old Hollywood.

The Forever Summer by Jamie Brenner [Book]

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Over the course of a summer, seven women gather in a sprawling bed and breakfast in Provincetown to reconcile their complicated family relationships. Marin Bishop’s perfect life has fallen apart all at once with the appearance of a surprise half sister, Rachel, and the loss of her prestigious job. She and Rachel leave Manhattan to meet their grandmother Amelia on Cape Cod, stay for a few days at her inn, and forge connections neither knew they needed. As they gradually extend their stay week by week to the entire summer, Marin’s parents, boyfriend, aunt, Amelia and her wife Kelly, and seemingly all the other residents of Provincetown variously participate in their journey. Kelly teaches Marin the family craft of mosaic construction, and Marin’s completion of a long-planned gift wraps up her visit and sets her on her course, while great changes also come to the lives of Marin’s mother, Amelia, and Rachel. An engaging and emotional read with characters who stay with you.

This is a good fit for fans of Elin Hilderbrand, beaches, summer, and women’s stories.

Blue on Blue by by Dianne White; illustrations by Beth Krommes [Book]

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This poetic book is beautifully illustrated with scratchboard and watercolor. Set on a family farm in New England, Blue on Blue is the story of a rain storm from dark skies to mud everywhere.

Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout [Book]

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In the stifling hot summer of 1971, Amy has a summer job working in the same office as her mother, Isabelle, in the small town of Shirley Falls. We quickly learn that  something has come between them to drastically change their relationship, but what exactly that is takes longer to discover with story enfolding from the differing perspectives of both Amy and Isabelle. The troubles facing the people of this town are almost too realistically drawn; under almost every ideal roof something darker lurks. Great character development and lyrical writing. This is Strout’s first novel; she later won the Pulitzer Prize for Olive Kitteridge.