The Summer House The Summer House

The Summer House

A Novel

    • 4.2 • 124 Ratings
    • $11.99
    • $11.99

Publisher Description

When Flossy Merrill summons her children to the beloved family beach house to celebrate their father’s eightieth birthday, both cherished memories and long-kept secrets come to light in this charming and lyrical novel from the author of The Lake Season and Mystic Summer.

Flossy Merrill has managed to—somewhat begrudgingly—gather her three ungrateful grown children from their dysfunctional lives for a summer reunion at the family’s Rhode Island beach house. Clementine, her youngest child and a young mother of two small children, has caused Flossy the most worry after enduring a tragically life-altering year. But Samuel and his partner Evan are not far behind in their ability to alarm: their prospective adoption search has just taken a heart-wrenching turn. Only Paige, the eldest of the headstrong Merrill clan, is her usual self: arriving precisely on time with her well-adapted teens. Little does her family know that she, too, is facing personal struggles of her own.

No matter. With her family finally congregated under one seaside roof, Flossy is determined to steer her family back on course even as she prepares to reveal the fate of the summer house that everyone has thus far taken for granted: she’s selling it. The Merrill children are both shocked and outraged and each returns to memories of their childhoods at their once beloved summer house—the house where they have not only grown up, but from which they have grown away. With each lost in their respective heartaches, Clementine, Samuel, and Paige will be forced to reconsider what really matters before they all say goodbye to a house that not only defined their summers, but, ultimately, the ways in which they define themselves. Featuring McKinnon’s “sharp and evocative” (Kirkus Reviews) voice, this warm-hearted novel is perfect for fans of Elin Hilderbrand and Mary Alice Monroe.

GENRE
Fiction & Literature
RELEASED
2017
June 6
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
336
Pages
PUBLISHER
Atria/Emily Bestler Books
SELLER
Simon & Schuster Digital Sales LLC
SIZE
7.5
MB

Customer Reviews

1 Banker ,

A really good family narrative

Even as adults, our childhood relationships with our family can still crop up at unexpected times & in unexpected ways. This book tackles a death in the family & the trauma of that along with a troubled marriage & a gay couple trying to adopt. A family gathering to celebrate a father’s 75th birthday at the family beach house brings each couple’s drama to a head. At the same time, this book makes the house a character as well. It was a little too realistic sometimes!

jennyrmc ,

The Summer House

This book found me…
I have never written a review before but for this one, I must. Thank you Hannah for allowing me to relive my own childhood, teen years and adult ones with such vivid clarity. I have vacationed in Misquamicut all my life. I myself and my own children have ridden the carousel year after year reaching for that brass ring, have gotten ice cream and popcorn at St Claire’s, candy at the candy shop (the smell never changes). I got married at the Watch Hill Inn and had photos taken on the grand Ocean House porch. Your story is like looking through my own photo albums. I remember being stuck in traffic on the long road in, making crowns of clover flowers, catching fireflies, making dribble castles and even sneaking out a time or two. I remember crying when it was time to leave. The ocean truly is healing there. Your story could be of my own family. We all have stories to tell. I am happy to have found yours to be such a sweet reminder of my own. For family and tradition, I am grateful.

Shelli4 ,

Perfect Beach Read

A great book to read at the beach and characters you can relate to!

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