by Nancy Thayer
First published 2010
Abbie Fox receives urgent emails from her youngest sister Lily. Come home now, Lily writes. Their middle sister Emma has collapsed after losing her job and her engagement. Their widowed father has started seeing the mysterious woman who rents their guesthouse. Abbie hasn't spoken to her family in nearly two years, but she returns to their New England coastal home. The three Fox sisters had protected each other fiercely since their mother's death. Now they watch their father build a new life without them. The summer brings chaos to all three women. Abbie abandons her careful rules when she falls in love. Emma, always driven and successful, must redefine what achievement means. Lily discovers her dreams don't match the world around her. The ocean currents shift unpredictably around their island home, and so do the sisters' lives. By September, each woman will make choices that reshape who she is.
Genres: fiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: estranged-family, found-family
Setting: New England
Period: 21st Century
351 pages · Hardcover · Ballantine Books