Synopses & Reviews
In 1957, the Banning family leads a life of privilege, wealth, and domestic unhappiness. At the head of this California dynasty is oil magnate Victor Banning, a man of great power and even greater obsessions who is determined to teach his son and grandsons to be predators in his dog-eat-dog world.
Jimmy Peyton is a rising star in the music business, a young man with a bright future and no connection to the Bannings, until the fateful night their cars collide on a Los Angeles street, forever changing the lives and future of two innocent families.
Laurel Peyton, Jimmy's daughter, has lived her entire life in the shadow of grief. Though her mother, Kathryn, struggled to keep her daughter safe and secluded after the terrible accident that ruined their family, she cannot guard against the one danger she never expected: love.
In 1970, Victor's grandsons, Jud and Cale, meet the beautiful and spirited Laurel, and these two families cross paths once again, this time on a passionate course that pits brother against brother and mother against daughter, a clash of wills that gradually draws them all closer to the truth of their tragic connection.
Spanning thirty years and three generations of Peyton women and Banning men, The Days of Summer is an epic drama that explores our deepest ties to family, the mistakes we make in the name of love, and is a reminder of our ability to hope, to forgive, and to find the courage to change.
Review
"Barnett's
The Days of Summer is a splendid novel, the kind you'll want to read more than once."
-- Catherine Coulter
Review
"An intense and compelling exploration of the darkest places in the human heart, Jill Barnett's
The Days of Summer is a powerful novel about destiny, choices, family ties, and the way they're all connected in our lives. Fast paced and provocative, it's a story you won't be able to put down...one you'll want to talk about long after you've finished the last pages."
-- Kristin Hannah, bestselling author of Magic Hour
Review
"Jill Barnett takes readers on a lushly written, deeply emotional journey into the darker recesses of the human heart. Spanning three generations in the lives of two memorable families,
The Days of Summer shows the impact one generation's choices has on the next."
-- Susan Elizabeth Phillips, bestselling author of Match Me if You Can
Review
"Tragedy, vengeance, love and obsession are the forces at work in this captivating page-turner of a novel.
The Days of Summer is full of fascinating, unforgettable characters and unruly passions that readers will be talking about long after they finish the book."
-- Megan Chance, award-winning author of An Inconvenient Wife