by Sarah Blake
First published 2019
Kitty and Ogden Milton seem to have it all in 1935. Their wealth, beauty, and perfect children make them the envy of everyone. After tragedy strikes, Ogden buys an island in Maine to help Kitty heal. The island becomes the family's sanctuary for decades, but it also holds the weight of Kitty's devastating refusal that will shadow her forever. In 1959, Len Levy joins Ogden's bank as the young Jewish employee who wins over his boss and one daughter while facing hostility from the rest of the family. His friend Reg Pauling breaks barriers as the only Black man at Harvard and in their workplace, eventually making it to the Milton island itself. By the 21st century, the family fortune has crumbled. When Kitty's granddaughter learns they may have to sell the island, her husband uncovers disturbing truths about Ogden's past. She finally begins to understand the quiet tensions that always lurked beneath her family's polished surface.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-saga, generational-conflict, secrets-and-lies
Setting: Maine, United States
Period: 1935, 1959, 21st Century
496 pages · Hardcover · Flatiron Books