Summer House, Nancy Thayer 7.07.09

After years of wandering from whim to whim, thirty-year-old Charlotte Wheelwright seems to have at last found her niche. The free spirit enjoys running an organic gardening business on the island of Nantucket, thanks in large part to her spry grandmother Nona, who donated a portion of land on the family’s seaside compound to get Charlotte started. Though Charlotte’s skill with plants is bringing her success, cultivating something deeper with people—particularly her handsome neighbor Coop—might be more of a challenge.

Nona’s generosity to Charlotte, secretly her favorite grandchild, doesn’t sit well with the rest of the Wheelwright clan, however, as they worry that Charlotte may be positioning herself to inherit the entire estate. With summer upon them, everyone is making their annual pilgrimage to the homestead—some with hopes of thwarting Charlotte’s dreams, others in anticipation of Nona’s latest pronouncements at the annual family meeting, and still others with surprising news of their own. Charlotte’s mother, Helen, a Wheelwright by marriage, brings a heavy heart. She once set aside her own ambitions to fit in with the Wheelwrights, but now she must confront a betrayal that threatens both her sense of place and her sense of self.

As summer progresses, these three women—Charlotte, Nona, and Helen—come to terms with the decisions they have made. Revisiting the lives and loves that have crossed their paths and the possibilities of the roads not taken, they may just discover that what they’ve always sought was right in front of them all along.  – BOOK JACKET

You can read an excerpt on Thayer’s website.

Bringing together three generations of strong-willed women,
each wrestling with life-changing decisions,
Nancy Thayer’s luminous new novel shows that no matter where life’s path may lead,
love always finds a way back home.

Nancy Thayer is the New York Times-bestselling author of The Hot Flash Club, The Hot Flash Club Strikes Again, Hot Flash Holidays, The Hot Flash Club Chills Out, and Moon Shell Beach. She is also the author of a new June release, Summer House. She is the mother of Samantha Wilde, whose debut novel, This Little Mommy Stayed Home, comes out on June 23. Nancy lives on Nantucket. You can visit her website at www.nancythayer.com.

AUTHOR GUEST POST…Summer House is about  three women in a wealthy family who gather in the family’s Nantucket island house for the summer.  On the surface, these fortunate women seem to have everything.  But the story begins when each woman accidentally overhears a conversation she is not meant to hear.

Charlotte, 30, is working in her organic  garden on her grandmother’s waterfront property.  Hidden by a tangle of raspberry bushes, she overhears Bill Cooper breaking up with his girlfriend.  Charlotte’s had a crush on Coop for years, and her heart leaps with hope.

Yet she wonders if she deserves a chance at happiness.  Only three years ago, she did something really terrible and she’s still trying to atone.  And she really loves her family.  But her parents want to her marry Whit Lowry.  She’s already disappointed her parents by refusing to work in the Boston family bank.  What should she do?

Charlotte’s mother, Helen, 60, is in her Boston home preparing for the trip to Nantucket and a long series of family occasions.  Her mother-in-law Nona, will celebrate her 90^th birthday.   And of course, the entire family will gather for Family Meeting, where they will discuss, among other things, whether or not Charlotte can continue to use part of Nona’s land for her garden.

Charlotte has run her garden for three years now, taking fresh organic produce to some of Nantucket’s poshest restaurants and selling flowers and veggies from her roadside stand.  This year she’s made a profit of four thousand dollars.  Suddenly her relatives—all wealthy—are in a dither.  The garden is on the grandmother’s land, after all.  Is it fair for Charlotte to make a profit from it?

Helen worries about these things and also about the intense headaches that have been bothering her recently. 

Then she overhears her husband Worth hiding in the bedroom, whispering to someone on his cell phone, and she realizes all the other concerns are insignificant compared to this: her husband is having an affair.

Nona is 90.  She’s an elegant and feisty woman who has lived a long, interesting life.  She’s still spirited and determined. . .and opinionated. After her beloved husband’s death five years ago, she moved from her Boston home to live year-round in the Nantucket summer house.

Nona’s family is about to arrive for the summer.  Her handsome son Worth, his wife Helen, and their sons Oliver and Teddy are due any moment.  Charlotte is already here.  Her daughter Grace and her boring husband Kellogg and their three daughters and the daughter’s husbands and children are coming, also.  Grace will be as bossy and officious as she was as a child, always jealous of her brother. 

As Nona waits for everyone, she sits in the sun and remembers the first time she ever came to this house. Nona was known by Anne back then, before she had grandchildren.   It was during World War II.  She had just fallen in love with Herb Wheelwright, and he’d brought her down to meet his parents before leaving with his battalion for Europe. Nona overheard Herb’s parents expressing their displeasure with Herb’s announcement that he was going to marry Anne.  She realized she was going to have to deal with a vicious mother-in-law.

Flash forward to the present: Nona is aware of the currents of discord running beneath the surface of her large and fortunate family, and she understands that the time has come for her to reveal a secret that will shock everyone in her family.

Summer House is a novel very close to my heart.  My daughter Samantha Wilde is 33—and she’s just published her first novel, This Little Mommy Stayed Home.  She is as idealistic and loving as Charlotte.  My own mother Jane is 90.  She shared her album of WWII photographs and the letters that my father wrote to her from Germany, and the letters were an inspiration for part of this book.

And as always, I find families and their secrets the most fascinating subjects in the world.

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS…I’m excited to mention that The Book Faery Reviews will be giving away a copy of Summer House.  Please leave a comment below and as always, get more entries in by tweeting (RT @wifeandmomof3….), blog mention, subscribe via e-mail, or subscribe via RSS. Giveaway winner will be announced after August 1st, 2009.