First published 2012
Jackie McMullen faces every parent's nightmare when her firefighter husband Jimmy dies in the line of duty. Her ten-year-old son Charlie, once outgoing and curious, retreats into silence after losing the father he idolized. Desperate to help her grieving child heal, Jackie makes a difficult decision. She packs up their life in New York and returns to Sullivans Island, the South Carolina home she left behind years ago. There, family matriarch Annie Britt waits with open arms, determined to make their stay perfect despite the rocky relationship she's always had with her daughter. The island works its magic on the broken family. Charlie discovers the wild beauty of the Lowcountry marshes and beaches. Jackie reconnects with the place that shaped her childhood. Annie finds herself caught between caring for her family and navigating her own complicated feelings about her estranged husband Buster and her growing attraction to Steven Plofker, the widowed doctor next door. As the summer unfolds, three generations must learn to lean on each other and discover that love can survive even the deepest loss.
Genres: fiction, romance, grief, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, second-chance
Setting: New York, Sullivans Island, South Carolina
Period: Contemporary
254 pages · ebook · HarperCollins US