The Book of Summer by Michelle Gable [Book]

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Bess returns to Cliff House, her family summer home for four generations, to extract her mother before it slips off its Nantucket bluff into the north Atlantic, victim to the passage of time and ravages of weather and erosion. The Cliff House guest book, filled with letter style narratives rather than simple names and dates, illuminates the near century of lives it has sheltered. As Bess tries to protect her mother and save her family’s memories and heirlooms, she also grapples with the end of her four-year marriage. Coming home is a comfort and a distraction, as are the denizens of Nantucket, including Bess’s high school love. Told through contemporary narrative interspersed with transcribed entries from The Book of Summer and local news stories, the story of a family and its triumphs, tragedies, and secrets unfolds, drawing the reader into Cliff House from the 1920s through 2013. A sure bet for fans of Elin Hilderbrand, Nantucket, families who brushed shoulders with the Kennedys, and the female side of the story.