Synopses & Reviews
From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Ann Brashares comes her first adult novel
In the town of Waterby on Fire Island, the rhythms and rituals of summer are sacrosanct: the ceremonial arrivals and departures by ferry; yacht club dinners with terrible food and breathtaking views; the virtual decree against shoes; and the generational parade of sandy, sun-bleached kids, running, swimming, squealing, and coming of age on the beach.
Set against this vivid backdrop, The Last Summer (of You and Me) is the enchanting, heartrending story of a beach-community friendship triangle and summertime romance among three young adults for whom summer and this place have meant everything. Sisters Riley and Alice, now in their twenties, have been returning to their parents modest beach house every summer for their entire lives. Petite, tenacious Riley is a tomboy and a lifeguard, always ready for a midnight swim, a gale-force sail, or a barefoot sprint down the beach. Beautiful Alice is lithe, gentle, a reader and a thinker, and worshipful of her older sister. And every summer growing up, in the big house that overshadowed their humble one, there was Paul, a friend as important to both girls as the place itself, who has now finally returned to the island after three years away. But his return marks a season of tremendous change, and when a simmering attraction, a serious illness, and a deep secret all collide, the three friends are launched into an unfamiliar adult world, a world from which their summer haven can no longer protect them.
Ann Brashares has won millions of fans with her blockbuster series, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, in which she so powerfully captured the emotional complexities of female friendship and young love. With The Last Summer (of You and Me), she moves on to introduce a new set of characters and adult relationships just as true, endearing, and unforgettable. With warmth, humor, and wisdom, Brashares makes us feel the excruciating joys and pangs of loveboth platonic and romantic. She reminds us of the strength and sting of friendship, the great ache of loss, and the complicated weight of family loyalty. Thoughtful, lyrical, and tremendously moving, The Last Summer (of You and Me is a deeply felt celebration of summer and nostalgia for youth.
Synopsis
With a narrative perspective that's a perfect blend of knowingness and innocence, a terrific ear for the rhythms of speech of teenaged girls, and genuine stylistic flair, Ann Brashares turned an outstanding, unusually satisfying novel for young adults into a generation-defining phenomenon. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series-now three novels strong-has sold more than five million copies, has ridden bestseller lists solidly since publication, has inspired a successful feature film, and has won the hearts and minds of legions of teenaged girls-and their mothers-with its uncanny wisdom, emotional truth, and magical appeal. In what is sure to be one of the most eagerly anticipated events of this publishing season, Brashares now makes her debut as a writer of perceptive, resonant, utterly engaging women's fiction.
The Girl of Lost Things tells the story of Gracie Martin, a New Yorker who has a gift for returning lost objects to their rightful owners. It's a talent that plays off her inherent curiosity about things and the people attached to them. Gracie's also fond of tidy endings. But as the years go by, her unusual, glancing experiences with people-strangers, really-and their belongings point up the sort of meaningful connection that's eluded her in her own life. She swears off her vocation-that is, until she finds a backpack left behind in a taxi, full of mystery and promise, and convinces herself that, based on its contents, its (male) owner holds the key to her ultimate happiness.
Wise and enchanting, with a heroine as endearing as the four young women who made up the Sisterhood, this novel is poised to capture not only the girls who spent their young adulthoodreading Ann Brashares, but their mothers, big sisters, cousins, and friends, too.
Synopsis
From the author of the multimillion-copy, #1 bestselling series The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants comes a heartbreaking first adult novel.
Ann Brashares's series, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, has made her one of the most successful contemporary authors, shipping more than 8 million copies over the last five years and winning even more millions of passionate fans. Now, like Judy Blume (Summer Sisters) before her, Brashares turns her spectacular gifts to adult readers. In The Last Summer (of You and Me), Brashares uses her remarkable storytelling, emotional insights, and talent for capturing relationships to weave a rich, textured, mature novel that will resonate as clearly with readers in their forties as in their twenties.
Set on Long Island's Fire Island, The Last Summer (of You and Me) is an enchanting, heartrending page- turner about sisterhood, friendship, love, loss, and growing up. It is the story of a beach community friendship triangle-Riley and Alice, two sisters in their twenties, and Paul, the young man they've grown up with-and what happens one summer when budding love, sexual curiosity, a sudden serious illness, and a deep secret all collide, launching the friends into an adult world from which their summer haven can no longer protect them.
As wise, compelling, and endearing as her Traveling Pants series, and as lyrical, thoughtful, and moving as the best literary women's fiction, this novel is sure to win an entire new generation of adult fans.
Synopsis
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From the author of the multimillion-copy, #1 bestselling series The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants comes a heartbreaking first adult novel that will resonate as clearly with readers in their forties as it does with readers in their twenties.
Synopsis
A sparkling summer debut of love and reawakening that transports the classic The Enchanted April to a picture-perfect island in Maine Its a rainy summer in Park Slope, Brooklyn, when two unhappily married women, Lottie Wilkinson and Rose Arbuthnot, spot a tattered ad on their childrens preschool bulletin board:
Hopewell Cottage
Little Lost Island, Maine.
Old pretty cottage to rent
Spring water, blueberries, sea glass.
August.
Neither can afford it, but they are smitten. To share expenses, they find two companions: Caroline Dester, the exquisite darling of the independent movie scene, and elderly Beverly Fisher, who is recovering from heartbreaking loss. Transformed by the refreshing summer breezes, steamed lobsters, and cocktail hours on the wrap-around porch, the unlikely quartet gradually begin to open up to one another, and ultimately rediscover their capacity to love and be loved.
With a cast of quirky and endearing characters set against the beauty of an idyllic New England summer, Enchanted August brilliantly updates a beloved classic and offers readers a universal fantasy: one glorious summer month away from it all.
About the Author
Ann Brashares is the author of the phenomenal five-million-copies-selling series of young adult novels, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The Second Summer of the Sisterhood, Girls In Pants, and Forever in Blue, and the New York Times bestselling adult novel The Last Summer (of You and Me) and the novel