Summer House

Loved it so much sent the book to my 94 year old Mother!

A wonderful book, a page turner. I read this in two days, did not want it to end. The storylines and characters are fantastic. You want to cheer, berate and cry all at once. Always enjoy a book with the Cape and Islands locale. Thank you Ms. Thayer.

With a title like Summer House: A Novel, this book could be just an ordinary beach read. But Nancy Thayer has transformed this story from light to deep in her multi-layered family drama. The Wheelwrights of Boston, with an ancestral summer home on Nantucket, have traditions and a legacy; many who have married into the family have striven to live up to both with some difficulty. From the current matriarch Anne (Nona) down to the contemporary Wheelwrights, there are expectations and disappointments aplenty. And the bank that has sustained the family and employs family members is an institution in and of itself. We follow the family members as they move from Boston to Nantucket and back again over the summer months. Interspersed within these pages is Anne's story, alternating with the current family saga; gradually we come to learn about secrets and betrayal that will impact the family for years to come. Worth and Grace are the children of Anne and Herb (who is deceased); they compete and struggle to live up to the family traditions. Grace's husband Kellogg works in the bank, along with Worth. However, Worth's children have all declined to join in this family business, and Helen, Worth's wife, supports their children's individuality. Worth has more difficulty with their children's decisions. In the months leading up to the summer highlighted in this book, Helen discovers a secret of Worth's that has the potential to unravel their marriage and their lives. Meanwhile, Worth and Helen's daughter Charlotte has been living with Nona on the island, developing her environmentally friendly garden and selling the goods to the islanders. Son Oliver is planning to marry his partner Owen, and just as summer begins, son Teddy--alcoholic/drug abusing troubled son--shows up with a pregnant Suzette. Everyone is poised for drama as the months unfold. Thayer has the ability to enthrall the reader, which is one reason I have enjoyed this book, and many of her others that I have read. The characters were believable and flawed just enough that we could almost know them as real people. Definitely a five-star read. Laurel-Rain Snow

Nancy Thayer gives us a nice, light beach read focusing on three women of the wealthy Wheelwright clan. The extended members of this upper-crust family all spend the summer together at the sprawling summer home of their matriarch Nona. With in-laws aplenty populating the house, tempers and long-seething jealousies are sure to flare as the reader is treated to a vicarious trip to a family reunion. Nona is approaching 90 and enjoys having her son, her daughter, their children and grandchildren with her every summer. But as she becomes less mobile, she spends much time recalling the past and we are treated to the story of her falling in love with and marrying Herb, her now-deceased husband. Her favorite granddaughter, Charlotte, is now living with her permanently. A bit of a job-hopper, Charlotte has now found the one thing in life she wants to pursue as a career---she wants to be a gardener. With plenty of land on the estate, she grows vegetables and flowers which she sells daily at her market stand. Her happiness at having netted four thousand dollars the previous year does not sit well with her cousins who feel she is using her position as fair-haired grandchild to her advantage, though I'm never sure why this super-rich family begrudges her what must have been a piddling amount to them. Anyway, at 30, Charlotte is still unsure about love and has two interesting prospects over the course of the summer. She is also doing penance for a sexual dalliance in the past which still troubles her. Charlotte's mother, Helen, is facing challenges of her own. When she learns of her husband's infidelity, she has major issues to face and contemplates divorce and freedom from this family. Over the course of the summer she must also plan a wedding for her gay son, Oliver, while trying to smooth over the relationship between her husband and Teddy, their youngest son. Teddy struggles with alcoholism and drug addiction and to add to that has brought home a fellow addict, now pregnant with his child. It's everything readers might want in a family reunion---diverse characters, hidden agendas, sexual encounters, and questionable parentage. All in all, an enjoyable read perfect for a day on the beach.

I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know three generations of Wheelwright women: Anne, the matriarch (lovingly referred to as "Nona"), Helen, her daughter-in-law, and Charlotte, Helen's daughter. Grace, Nona's daughter, is a prominent but secondary character; Grace's children are also present but play very minor roles. We don't really get to know Grace and her children aside from their interactions with Helen and their cousins, and the glimpses we see are not flattering. The story takes place at the family's summer house on Nantucket. The book is broken into parts by event, and each vignette sheds more light on the women and the family dynamics. Woven throughout are Nona's memories of her life as a young wife and mother. It would be easy to characterize this book as mere fluff. Helen's children are non-conformists (horrifyingly so to this Eastern banking family) and Grace's children are whiny and dull. But beyond the easy stereotypes are women I can identify with: women who are far from perfect, trying to do their best day in and day out for themselves and for those they love. More importantly, Nona, Helen, and Charlotte own responsibility for the choices they have made. Highly recommended!

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the main characters, Nona, Helen, and Charlotte. I liked the stories of Nona, the family's matriarch, and her husband as he served in WWII. I enjoyed daydreaming about their lives and adventures and how lovely it would be to summer, every year, on the island of Nantucket. I couldn't help but think of the Kennedy's, probably because Charlotte's alcoholic brother's name was Teddy. I didn't want the book to end. I've read too many, less than satisfying, "summer reads" that were mostly fluff and silliness with stereotypical characters and shallow story lines. Summer House, on the other hand, is not one of those books and I thoroughly enjoyed it.