Summer House: A Novel

By Nancy Thayer

Book Overview

Thirty-year-old Charlotte Wheelwright seems to have at last found her niche, running an organic gardening business on the island of Nantucket, thanks in large part to her spry grandmother Nona, who... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345498216
• ISBN13: 9780345498212
• Release Date: June 2010
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.67 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.9" x 5.2"

Customer Reviews

Exceptional !!!

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

LOVED IT!!!

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.

FINDING WHAT YOU SEEK -- RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU

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

wonderful summer read

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.