Cape May by Chip Cheek

Cape May: A Novel  by Chip Cheek. Celadon Books (Macmillan), 2019.
                          Adult fiction.

Henry is 20; Effie is 18. He lives on a farm near Macon, Georgia; her family has money and her father is the mayor. They have grown up together and marriage seems to have been just what they thought they should do. It's 1957 and they go for a two week honeymoon to an uncle's house in Cape May, New Jersey. They really don't know each other very well and, after a week, they talk about going home. Effie remembers the place as bustling and fun when she was a child, but it is too late  in the season, and now seems lonely and abandoned.

Then, they meet Clara, a just older and more worldly woman, that Effie remembers from her childhood. Clara is married to Richard, but dallies with Max. Max's sister, Alma, is young, beautiful, and provides temptation for Henry. The group explore houses up and down the deserted street, drink themselves into unwise actions, and form new liaisons among themselves. The resulting scenes affect the rest of Effie and Henry's lives.

The town itself is almost a character in the story. Cheek does a masterful job of describing the landscape, the houses, both interior and exterior, and the atmosphere. He does even better in telling readers about the characters themselves. At first, we are drawn in with sympathy for the clueless young honeymooners. But, with all the sex scenes, and the introduction of the older, but maybe not wiser couple and Alma, the pace and the sex get even steamier.

While readers do find out what happens to Effie and Henry, the other characters are like people you might meet on a vacation and seem to disappear from their lives. Literally, this is a beach book.

The Golden Hour by Beatriz Williams

The Golden Hour by Beatriz Williams. HarperCollins, 2019. Adult fiction. Reviewed from galley. 

It's early 1940's when Lulu Randolph arrives in the Bahamas, eager to infiltrate herself into the world of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor who "rule" the islands for England at the time. Lulu is a reporter and wants to make her living writing pieces about the couple. What she suspects is all fun-and-games takes a decidedly more political and manipulated turn. When the wealthiest man on the island is killed, Lulu is in the thick of intrigue, racial tensions, and politics. Lulu falls in love with the quirky scientist Benedict Thorpe and their wedding is performed by none other than the Duke of Windsor himself! When Benedict, now her husband, disappears, Lulu sets off to find more about his background and his family.

While the Windsor angle may suck readers in, it is the lovely story of Benedict's family and their multigenerational loyalties to different countries, that will probably keep them going. Keep careful track of the characters and dates so that it all makes sense. Strong women and interesting action across the years as well as the Nassau part blend seamlessly into another historical fiction hit for Beatriz Williams.

Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams

Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams. William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins, 2018. Adult fiction.

Winthrop Island lies off the coast of Connecticut in the Atlantic Ocean. Wealthy families summer there and their lives intertwine with the locals who work to keep their houses clean, their food cooked, and to provide the fabulous seafood. In 1959, when Miranda Schuyler first arrives, it is for the wedding of her widowed mother to wealthy Hugh Fisher. His daughter Isobel is near Miranda's age.  It doesn't take long for the girls and handsome lobsterman Joseph Vargas whose family keeps the lighthouse to heat up the summer.

Flash forward to 1969 when movie star Miranda Schuyler, sporting a black eye, arrives again on Winthrop Island. Joseph Vargas has escaped from prison where he is serving a term for a long ago murder. What's happened in-between dates back to the histories of locals and summer families from years gone by. 

Beatriz Williams writes of sand, sea, and intrigue. This book is one that should find its way to your summer beach bag...or maybe just read it during your staycation! 

The Yankee Widow by Linda Lael Miller

  The Yankee Widow by Linda Lael Miller. Mira, 2019. Historical fiction, adult.

When Jacob Hammond leaves his wife, young daughter, and farm near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to fight as a Union soldier, he cannot anticipate the future. When Jacob is wounded and taken to Washington, D.C., Caroline Hammond goes to find him. The story really begins when she goes back to the farm. She depends on Enoch, an African American who has become friend and ally to the little family. Escaped slave Jubie arrives, pregnant, and with a slave catcher on her heels. Then, the war itself finds its way to her own yard and orchard. Both Union and Confederate soldiers become part of Caroline's story.

Told in straightforward words, Miller does a fine job of describing scenery, action, and characters. She has obviously done a great deal of research and it shows in the little details. Those unfamiliar with the American Civil War will learn a great deal about the loyalties and action on both sides of the fighting.

The Miracle and Tragedy of the Dionne Quintuplets by Sarah Miller.

  The Miracle and Tragedy of the Dionne Quintuplets by Sarah Miller. Random House, August, 2019. Ages 12 and up. (reviewed from galley)

This well researched title about the five identical Dionne sisters begins with their birth in 1934 Canada. With few resources in the little farming family itself,  and the primitive rural medicine of the time, it's truly a wonder that any of the babies survived the midwife assisted births. But, then, they lived.

And, suddenly, the Depression era world wanted to know all about these little darlings! Who would take care of them? The government got involved to help provide the very best of medical care, child development information, a warm and safe environment, and everything the sisters could need...in fact, everything, but a loving family life.

The author does a masterful job of telling the story of all the attention, the marketing, and general tourist attraction nature of the girls' life. Only when they are not little and quite so cute, does the family reunite in a big house with all of the Dionne sisters and brothers and parents together. Even then, life is not sunny though.

Photos are included to show the Dionne quintuplets as children, teens, and adults. The author begins each chapter with a newspaper headline. Updates with quotes from interviews of the surviving adult women show how they felt about their family, their schooling, their lives, each other, and their ultimate attempts to be themselves as well as part of such a historic group.

Sea Glass Summer by Michelle Houts.

  Sea Glass Summer by Michelle Houts, Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline. Candlewick, 2019. Children's picture book.

Set in Maine, this soft watercolored book illustrates the very best of the rocks, ocean, water, and coastal people. Young Thomas is spending time with his grandmother. He enjoys searching for sea glass and hearing stories of his family. He dreams of other times and other people in the past. By the end of the book, another generation has come to the shore and finds new inspiration in the same setting.

This is a wonderful multi-generational family story. It includes some science, too, in talking about recycling, weathering by the elements, using a magnifying glass, and collecting washed-up items. The text and illustrations mesh gracefully to provide a comforting seaside tale.

The Dinner List: A Novel by Rebecca Serle

The Dinner List: A Novel by Rebecca Serle. Flatiron Books, 2018. Adult fiction.

If you could invite five people, living or dead, to dinner, who would be on your list?? When Sabrina Nielsen turns thirty, she arrives at the restaurant to find her best friend, an old love, her mentor, her estranged father, and Audrey Hepburn!  Told in alternating chapters of time at the dinner and time in Sabrina's past, readers slowly learn why these people are there and how they have fit in Sabrina's life.  Enjoy each course as it is served!