Synopses & Reviews
New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice has inspired the devotion of readers everywhere with her moving novels of love and family. She has been hailed by critics for her unique giftsa "rare combination of realism and romance," according to
The New York Times Book Review.
Summer Light is Luanne Rice at her most magical, an entrancing story of love at first sight, the true meaning of family, and angels right here on earth.
May Taylor works as a wedding planner with her best friend and great-aunt, passing on the timeless traditions established by her grandmother and mother. The Taylor women have always believed in the presence of magic in everyday lifeespecially the simple magic of true love and family.
Yet May's own faith in true love was destroyed years ago when she was abandoned by the father of her child. Still, she has found joy in raising her daughter Kyliea special five-year-old who sees and hears things that others cannot. Her unique visions will lead May to a love she never expected and a life she never imagined.
Martin Cartier is a professional hockey player and sports legend. But celebrity has never been enough for Martin. His father, Serge, a hockey champion, taught him to play the game ... and to win at all costs. Now his handsome, polished exterior barely hides a core of rage, heartache and isolation.
It is Kylie who first glimpses the role Martin will play in May's life and her own. May and Martin feel an immediate attraction, but each fears being hurt again. Yet the intensity of their connection leads them to begin to believe in a shared future.
But just as happiness as a family seems within reach, Martin's past threatens to tear them all apart. Only Kylie sees the way homeand only May can lead them there, if she can somehow finally believe that miracles can come true....
Deftly illuminating the everlasting bonds among mothers, daughters, fathers, and sons, Luanne Rice celebrates life's simple pleasures and the joy of meeting the one person you are destined to love forever. Summer Light is a moving tribute to the enduring power of love and an exhilarating testament to the magic always at work in the world for those with the courage to see it.
About the Author
Luanne Rice is the author of twenty-seven novels, most recently The Geometry of Sisters, Last Kiss, Light of the Moon, What Matters Most, Sandcastles, Summer of Roses, Summers Child, Silver Bells, and Beach Girls, as well as The Letters, a collaboration with Joseph Monninger. She lives in New York City and Old Lyme, Connecticut.
Author Q&A
Q: Please tell us about the central relationship in Summer Light.A: Summer Light is primarily a love story between two people who thought they would never love again. Both are very distracted by their lives and losses. And this is a book about two people who do not have a smooth path. But so few of us have smooth paths to travel in our own ways. May and Martin fall in love very fast—and that was critical to the story for me, that they know it's right but then they have to untangle it. The reason I wanted it to be that way for these characters is to show that they couldn't walk away, as tempting as this is for them; they are in it for the long run. I also wanted to express to the reader how very much I believe in sticking together through hard times and having faith that on the other side there is something better.
Q: What is so special about Summer Light —the concept, not the book itself. What does that phrase mean to you?
A: It is so evocative: Summer Light . I can close my eyes in the middle of December and I can picture it—that golden light at the end of the day, with the sun shining down, the pollen in the air, and the reflection of the water. In my books it is usually salt water, a marsh, a cove, a tidal pool. In the novel Summer Light it is the Long Island Sound and marshes, but it is also an imaginary lake in Canada that helps reflect that special light.
The town I live in, where I grew up, is Old Lyme, Connecticut, which is the birthplace of American Impressionism. I grew up with so many stories and legends and real tales about the American Impressionists and the reason they were drawn to Old Lyme was the quality of the light—it reminded them of a certain area in France that they loved and they painted. My mother was an artist so I have always appreciated the painterly aspects of light. I've tried to capture that on paper. I think it is also one way to bring the story alive to the reader: whether it is summer or winter, whatever the season, the story can become very clear to the reader if I let readers see the characters in a season, against certain light. Setting is so important: it is a living, breathing thing.
From the Hardcover edition.