Books & Java

A Hundred Summers

by Beatriz Williams

Synopsys:

Memorial Day, 1938: New York socialite Lily Dane has just returned with her family to the idyllic oceanfront community of Seaview, Rhode Island, expecting another placid summer season among the familiar traditions and friendships that sustained her after heartbreak.

That is, until Greenwalds decide to take up residence in Seaview.

Nick and Budgie Greenwald are an unwelcome specter from Lily’s past: her former best friend and her former fiancé, now recently married—an event that set off a wildfire of gossip among the elite of Seaview, who have summered together for generations. Budgie’s arrival to restore her family’s old house puts her once more in the center of the community’s social scene, and she insinuates herself back into Lily's friendship with an overpowering talent for seduction...and an alluring acquaintance from their college days, Yankees pitcher Graham Pendleton. But the ties that bind Lily to Nick are too strong and intricate to ignore, and the two are drawn back into long-buried dreams, despite their uneasy secrets and many emotional obligations.

My Review:

Beatriz Williams achieves perfection once again. I just can't get enough of her wonderful characters and this book does not disappoint. Once again, it is the dialogue that drew me in and a fabulous plot that kept me reading. What I found really interesting about this novel is that I kept forgetting that it takes place in the 1930s. The situations and the drama of the story would translate equally well in a novel set in modern time. However, it is that romanticism of old times that gives BWs novels the charm and beauty which appeals to those of us who thoroughly immerse ourselves in historical fiction. This novel is about the secrets that do not evade us nor the drama we don't seems to associate with the seemingly idyllic lives of the upper crust. Summers in New Hampshire and winters in NYC is the life of privilege Lilly and her friends enjoy. But, even with great privilege and access there are the darker, not talked about situations (adultery, bigotry, debauchery, sexual abuse, black mail, manipulation, etc.) that make for gossip and drama. 

This novel has beautiful socialites, a famous Yankees player, a renown architect, rich lawyers and other very colorful characters that will keep you entertained from beginning to end. 

I am very anxious now to read The Infinite Sea and the many more (hopefully) novels Beatriz Williams will brilliantly pen.