The Edge of Summer
2022 • 400 pages
Ratings2
Average rating3.5
15
Ratings2
Average rating3.5
Bestselling author Viola Shipman delights with this captivating summertime escape set along the sparkling shores of Lake Michigan, where a woman searches for clues to her secretive mother's past Devastated by the sudden death of her mother—a quiet, loving and intensely private Southern seamstress called Miss Mabel, who overflowed with pearls of Ozarks wisdom but never spoke of her own family—Sutton Douglas makes the impulsive decision to pack up and head north to the Michigan resort town where she believes she’ll find answers to the lifelong questions she’s had about not only her mother’s past but also her own place in the world. Recalling Miss Mabel’s sewing notions that were her childhood toys, Sutton buys a collection of buttons at an estate sale from Bonnie Lyons, the imposing matriarch of the lakeside community. Propelled by a handful of trinkets left behind by her mother and glimpses into the history of the magical lakeshore town, Sutton becomes tantalized by the possibility that Bonnie is the grandmother she never knew. But is she? As Sutton cautiously befriends Bonnie and is taken into her confidence, she begins to uncover the secrets about her family that Miss Mabel so carefully hid, and about the role that Sutton herself unwittingly played in it all. “The minute I finished The Clover Girls, I ordered copies for all my friends. It’s that good.” —Kristy Woodson Harvey, New York Times bestselling author Don't miss bestselling author Viola Shipman's enchanting new novel, FAMOUS IN A SMALL TOWN—a magical story about the family you’re born with, and the one you choose! Other books by Viola Shipman: The Secret of Snow A Wish for Winter The Summer Cottage The Heirloom Garden The Clover Girls
Reviews with the most likes.
Solid Look At Family And Secrets. This is a book that instantly transports the reader into its setting, particularly once it gets to the small town Michigan shores of Lake Michigan. But here, things are not always exactly as they seem, and there is a dark family secret lying just beneath the surface. Shipman - a pseudonym using the actual person's own grandmother's name - does a phenomenal job here of showing how small town secrets can fester through generations, and that even when not actually knowing one's own history... history has a way of coming back around. Truly an excellent work, and the only reason for the star deduction is that this book deals pretty heavily with COVID - the reason our main character even travels to the small town is directly due to the insanities of COVID and that idiotic and chaotic period of living in the 21st Century. And, well, I have a personal war going on against any book that mentions COVID because I DO NOT WANT TO READ ABOUT COVID. Period. My only weapon in that one man war is a star deduction in my review of the book, and so I deploy it automatically no matter how strong the book may otherwise be. Still, truly a great book that Shipman's long time fans will enjoy and a great example of “her” (his) style of writing for anyone who may not be familiar with it. Very much recommended.