July and August: A Novel

From the acclaimed author of The Hills at Home comes this funny, bittersweet, wonderfully peopled family saga of beginnings and endings, couplings and uncouplings, of new friendships and old alliances.

Great-aunt Lily’s gracious pile of a house in Towne, Massachusetts, is the gathering place for her far-flung Yankee clan of grandnieces and grandnephews--all in town for the months of July and August--and with their arrival comes a high summer of comedy and drama. Brooks and Rollins, the uncommonly successful software entrepreneur brothers, turn the heads of the locals with their supermodel dates. Lily herself has made an unexpected success of a new business venture. Sally, the youngest of the clan, is having the time of her life with Cam, a charismatic Towne kid; between them they prove that in some corners of the world, children can still go out to play gloriously unsupervised and come home safely. Cousin Julie announces her wedding to a man no one has met, whose delayed arrival gives rise to a mystery. And in the single developing sorrow, the family faces the possibility of a final leave-taking by the once fiery Aunt Ginger, who continues to dish up crucial life wisdom (whether it’s sought or not) while reclining on a lawn chair in the sun.

As July and August unfurls, the cousins scheme and new romances and confidences bloom. Even Aunt Lily, who presides over it all with her hard-won equanimity, has secrets to divulge before the season is done. Throughout, Nancy Clark gives us a beautiful exploration of the ways that a family evolves over time--and the ways in which it remains the same--in this rich summer story of love lost and found.

A funny, bittersweet, and wonderfully peopled family saga from the acclaimed author of The Hills at Home, and a fitting farewell to the Hill clan. Great-aunt Lily's pile of a house in Towne, Massachusetts, is once again the gathering place for her far-flung grandnieces and grandnephews. As always, their arrival brings a high summer of comedy and drama. While Lily struggles to get her new business venture offthe ground, her granddaughter Sally befriends the local math whiz; brothers and software entrepreneurs Brooks and Rollins turn heads with their supermodel dates; Cousin Julie announces her wedding to a man who may or maynot be imaginary; and the family faces the possibility of a final leave-taking of Aunt Ginger, who continues to dish up crucial life wisdom-whether it's sought or not-while reclining on a lawn chair in thesun.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Over the course of a memorable summer, members of a large New England family arrive at spinster Aunt Lily's large and gracious home in Towne, Massachusetts, bringing with them high drama, romance, lucrative financial dealings, and possible tragedy, in a poignant saga of a single family as it changes and grows. By the author of A Way from Home. 15,000 first printing.

Nancy Clark is the author of A Way from Home and The Hills at Home. A native of Massachusetts, she now makes her home in West Wilton, New Hampshire.