The Summer of Lost and Found
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4.2 • 296 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
A timely, tender, and compassionate tale of perseverance, love, and the bonds of family in the face of tremendous and sometimes painful upheaval in this latest novel in the New York Times bestselling Beach House series.
The coming of spring usually means renewal, but for Linnea Rutledge, this spring is a season of challenge. Linnea faces another layoff, this time from the aquarium she adores, and her family’s finances, emotions, and health teeter on the brink. To complicate matters, her new love interest, Gordon, struggles to return to the Isle of Palms from England. Meanwhile, her old flame, John, turns up from California and is quarantining next door. She tries to ignore him, but when he sends her plaintive notes in the form of paper airplanes, old sparks ignite. When Gordon at last reaches the island, Linnea wonders—is it possible to love two men at the same time?
Love in the time of COVID-19 proves challenging, at times humorous, and ever changing. Relationships are redefined, friendships made and broken, and marriages tested. As the weeks turn to months, and another sea turtle season comes to a close, Linnea learns there are more meaningful lessons during this summer than opportunities lost: that summer is a time of wonder, and that the exotic lives in our own backyards.
Poignant and moving, The Summer of Lost and Found is “a novel of growing up, saying goodbye to the past, and learning to ask yourself the hard questions, including one of the most vital of all: ‘Who do you really want to be’” (Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Shipstead (Seating Arrangements) returns with a breathtaking epic of a female aviator. In 1914, infant twins Marian and Jamie Graves are sent to their dissolute uncle in Montana after their mother dies. There, a married pair of barnstormers inspires 12-year-old Marian, who feels "only lightness" as a passenger during a roll, loop, and nosedive. As a teen trucking hootch during Prohibition, Marian makes a delivery to a brothel, where she meets bootlegger Barclay Macqueen, who sponsors her interest in flying. Later Barclay traps her in a disastrous marriage, and she flees to become a bush pilot in Alaska. Her subsequent exploits are thrillingly and perceptively chronicled: during WWII, she ferries Spitfires for the RAF, and in 1949 embarks on a fateful pole-to-pole circumnavigation of the globe, which leads to a crash in Antarctica, after which she is assumed to have died. Shipstead interweaves stories of Jamie, who becomes an artist and draws battle scenes during WWII, and of her wartime lover, Ruth, with asides about historic aviators (many of them women), and convincingly conveys her characters' yearning for connection, freedom, and purpose. In a present-day narrative, film star Hadley Baxter, herself orphaned by a plane crash, is cast to portray Marian, an ambitious move for Hadley after having been known for her role in a Twilight-esque fantasy series. Shipstead manages to portray both Marian's and Hadley's expanded sense of consciousness as they push the boundaries inscribed around them Marian's through flight and Hadley's through creative inspiration (a particularly colorful scene has her zooming on psychedelic mushrooms). This is a stunning feat.
Customer Reviews
Another great tale
Great introduction to the next generation. I have read every one of her books and this is no exception! Any one who has any interest in sea turtle conservation and real human emotions should enjoy this book!
Naysayers
To all of you dwelling on Covid, one day your great grandchildren will be reading about it in history class. Silly fools for not finishing a great book about current events with a great storyline as typical. Kudos MAM, they missed out and you did it again.
And for the new readership I promise “every other word is NOT about Covid”!
LOVE, COURAGE & RESILIENCE IN THE FACE OF COVID-19!
Leave it to beloved author Mary Alice Monroe to pen the book of the year that truly paints the word picture of what life was like in the face of COVID-19! The 7th book in her wonderful Beach House Series, THE SUMMER OF LOST AND FOUND, is a story of love, courage and resilience for Linnea and the rest of her Rutledge family. They are fortunate to live on the beautiful Isle of Palms and they do not take that for granted. When COVID-19 strikes, Linnea faces a layoff from the job she loves at the aquarium. She is not alone as her family members are facing their own issues - illness, financial and emotional struggles are at the forefront of their minds. When your family lives close together, it can be a blessing but sometimes being in a “lockdown” situation may make you wonder! As time goes by they learn to rely on each other and discover new skills in certain family members.
This would not be an excellent Beach Read without the element of Romance and Mary Alice Monroe has written a wonderfully, clever approach to romance during Covid! She has Linnea caught between an old love and a new love. John was the boy next door who grew up being the love of her life. He also broke her heart. Gordon is from London and has to quarantine for 14 days when he arrives for a visit. What better place to stay than at John’s! John has already been at work trying to win Linnea’s heart back just doing little things along the way.
Another turtle season comes and goes and new circle of left begins. Linnea realizes that in spite of all the the testing that has taken place over the summer, she found much more than she lost. She found strength she didn’t know she had, she found a new life skills, she appreciates her family and heritage more than ever and she finally found that love wasn’t nearly as far away as she thought it was.
I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by Goodreads. The opinions expressed here are completely my own and without influence.