The Summer Place

Another poignant and captivating book about family, secrets, and the bonds that bind, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of That Summer.

Sarah Danhauser is taken aback when her twenty-two-year-old stepdaughter announces her engagement to her older boyfriend. However, the wheels are turning. Brazen Ruby has already chosen a date—just three months away—and discussed holding the wedding at the family's Cape Cod beach home with her cherished safta, Sarah's mother Veronica. Before listing the large home for sale, Veronica is excited to have one more family gathering with Sarah, despite Sarah's concerns.

But there are generally a few hiccups on the path to your wedding day. Although Ruby has always known precisely what she wants, as the wedding day draws near, she is having to deal with the hurt caused by her mother's departure when she was a kid. Thanks to her interfering sister, Veronica finds up receiving unexpected news and is forced to consider the decisions she made in the past when she was a successful author living a different life. Sam, Sarah's twin brother, is recuperating from a horrific loss and wrestling with important concerns about his identity, which he intends to work out while visiting the Cape. Eli, Sarah's spouse, who has been strangely quiet throughout the epidemic, must face the consequences from a previous transgression of his usual good-guy demeanor. And Sarah, weary from the hardships of living in quarantine, angry with her husband, worried about her stepdaughter, and tired of her existence, confronts the seductive return of a former self and the life that could have been.

On the wedding day, miscommunications come to light, secrets are exposed, and lovers are seen for who they really are. Every member of the extended family will be affected by certain confrontations and disclosures, so nothing will ever be the same.

The Summer Place, described by The New York Times as "the undisputed boss of the beach read," is a narrative about forgiveness and sacrifice, and it honors family in all of its messy splendor. This is Jennifer Weiner's love letter to the Outer Cape and the power of home, the way our lives are enhanced by the people we name family, and the infinite ways love may surprise us. It is captivating, humorous, big-hearted, and brilliantly observant.