Against the picturesque coastal Maine setting that she evokes so well, bestselling author Holly Chamberlin creates a heartfelt story of family bonds and new beginnings ... It came as no surprise to anyone in Yorktide when glamorous Carol Ascher fled the little Maine town for New York City. While Carol found success as an interior designer, her younger sister, Bonnie, stayed behind, embracing marriage and motherhood. She even agreed to take in Carol's teenage daughter during a tumultuous patch. Now both their girls are grown and Bonnie, recently widowed, is anticipating the day she'll retire to Ferndean House, the nineteenthcentury family home on the rocky Maine coast. But forty-five years after leaving Yorktide, Carol suddenly announces that she's moving back-into Ferndean. Bonnie is indignant. She's the one who kept the homestead in order and tended to their dying mother. Now Carol expects to simply buy her out? As far as Bonnie is concerned, Ferndean is part of their heritage-not just another of Carol's improvement projects, to be torn apart and remade according to her whim. The entire Ascher family is in flux, uncovering secrets that upend their relationships. Carol's longing to be welcomed home is fueled by a painful truth she's carried for years. It will take an extraordinary summer-in a remarkable place- to lead these women back to each other, buoyed by the tides of friendship and forgiveness.
A picturesque Maine beach town is the setting for Holly Chamberlins touching and thought-provoking new novel, as a mother struggles to reconnect with her long lost daughter Every year on March 26th, Verity Peterson visits Ogunquit Beach, where she puts a handwritten message into a bottle and launches it into the waves. Its a ritual of remembrance for the daughter she hasnt seen in sixteen years not since her babys father, Alan, took two-month-old Gemma and disappeared. Verity keeps searching and hoping, sustained by the thought that someday she might get to be a mother to her own child. And finally, one phone call may change everything Verity learns that Alan is now in jail on abduction chargesand Marni Armstrong, born Gemma Peterson-Burns, is coming to live with Verity in Yorktide, Maine. But this isnt the joyful reunion Verity imagined. Gemma has been raised to believe Verity was an unfit mother who left Alan no choice but to take her out of harms way. Over the course of one summer, Verity tries to reach a tough, wary young woman whos more stranger than daughter. And Gemma must reexamine everything she thought about her parentsand decide whether to trust in a relationship that, though delicate as a seashell on the surface, could prove to be just as beautiful and resilient
Bess Culpepper has long been sure of two things-that her group of college friends would stay close, and that love is worth the wait. At forty-two, she's found the right man, and she's celebrating her upcoming wedding by inviting her best friends to beautiful Kennebunkport.
Bess has always been at the helm of these reunions, herding everyone together despite distance and outside commitments. As usual, Marta and Mike journey from their home near New York City, while Chuck and his husband, Dean, travel from Los Angeles. But Allison, half of a devoted couple since college, is making the trip from Chicago without her husband, Chris. None of the others knows the reason for their impending divorce. There are other tensions too. The usually level-headed Marta is conspicuously on edge, and Chuck reveals devastating personal news.
As reality encroaches on her dreams of the perfect gathering, Bess begins to second guess her assumptions about friendship and fidelity. If relationships like these, nurtured over decades, can flounder, how can any couple stay committed? Is it possible to truly know the ones we love-or even to predict where one's own path will lead?
Every June, the quiet beach town of Ogunquit is overtaken by wealthy families who hire local young women like Amy Latimer and Hayley Franklin to care for their children. Best friends since childhood, Amy and Hayley are eager to secure lucrative summer jobs. Amy wants to finance her upcoming move to Boston. Hayley hopes to squirrel away enough money so that her mom can finally leave her abusive husband.
Amy is immediately in thrall to her dynamic boss, Cressida Prior, so different from Amy's mother, Leda. Though skilled at creating tapestries and rugs, Leda lacks confidence. But one thing she does know, after a painful summer long ago as a nanny herself, is how damaging a manipulative boss can be.
Hayley's employers, Jon and Marisa Whitby, are loving parents to their two-year-old twins. Jon also has a grown son by a previous marriage. Ethan is kind, handsome, and not least, wealthy. For the first time, Hayley, usually so selfless, can't help seeing him as an opportunity.
But the passing weeks bring complications and revelations, altering friendships, testing the bond between mothers and daughters, and proving that the ripples from a single season can last forever . . .
To outsiders, Appleville, New Hampshire, is a storybook small town complete with a little white church and a gazebo on the village green. To Gincy Gannon Luongo, it was a place to escape from, as quickly and as permanently as she could. Since she moved away twenty years ago, Appleville has been her hometown in name only. But at her brother Tommy's urging, Gincy is coming back to visit their recently widowed mother in the weeks leading up to Christmas-and she's bringing her teenage daughter, Tamsin, with her.
Ellen Gannon, once feisty and strong-willed, is mired in depression six months after losing her husband. Tommy isn't doing much better. Gincy starts restoring order to the household in her usual practical way, but the real issues run much deeper than an empty fridge or an unpaid bill. Imagined slights and lingering resentments have created chasms between them all.
With each passing day, Gincy realizes she has seriously undervalued her mother and underestimated her brother. Only now, with the support of her husband, daughter, and best friends, is she starting to see how much she may have missed. For beyond the surface of every family and every picturesque town is something more complicated but infinitely more rewarding-a tapestry of those small acts of acceptance, love, and loyalty that could transform this Christmas into the best Gincy's ever known.
HIS BRIDE TO BE Lisa Jackson The job perks: a two-week luxury cruise in the company of one of the most eligible bachelors on the West Coast. But posing as Hale Donovan’s fiancée to finesse a takeover deal will challenge all of Valerie Pryce’s resolve to keep business and pleasure separate… YOU AGAIN Elizabeth Bass A group yoga tour to Peru is the last place Meredith expects to see her workaholic ex-boyfriend, Sam. Seven years have changed everything— except Meredith’s regret at abruptly running away. Yet amid the magnificent views and ancient ruins, a new chance may be waiting… RETURN TO HAMPTON BEACH Mary Carter Jacob was the shy, kind twin. Chris was wild and dangerous. As a teenager, Carrie Jensen was a little in love with them both. Now Carrie is coming back to Hampton Beach for a summer, where she’ll untangle the lie that broke her heart. SUMMER MEMORIES Holly Chamberlin There’s nowhere Ellen would rather nurse her wounds after her ex’s betrayal than Ogunquit, Maine—a little beach town where she spent idyllic childhood summers. Then Ellen meets a charming local artist who challenges her to create new memories…
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