The Beach at Summerly, Beatriz Williams, author; Saskia Maarleveld, narrator
The year is 1954. Emilia Winthrop was raised on Winthrop Island, once named for her family. Currently, she is teaching at Wellesley College. When she receives a telephone call from her Aunt Benedita, filling her in on news of her hometown, she is flummoxed. Why is a house on Winthrop Island, that has been unused for years, being renovated? Summerly is the estate where Emilia grew up, and it has gone to disrepair. Emilia’s parents worked as caretakers for the Peabody family, who still own Summerly. She spent many happy hours there, cavorting with the Peabody brothers, regardless of the fact that she was the daughter of their employed caretakers. They were prime catches for a girl, but she was not in their class. She left the island almost 8 years ago. Why should she care about what was happening there now? She is rushing to get to her class on time, and is annoyed with her aunt for disturbing her, bringing up old and painful memories.
The book goes back and forth between 1946 and 1954. In 1946, shortly after the end of the war, the Peabody’s are hosting their first party in years. Both the Winthrop and the Peabody families had lost a son in the theater of World War II. Emilia’s mother had a stroke as a consequence. She was never the same and Emilia gave up her dreams to leave the island and stayed to help her father care for her.
When Emilia meets Olive Rainsford, the aunt of the Peabody boys, her life is changed. She soon works for Olive as a kind of nanny and helpmate. Olive takes a very deep interest in her and encourages her to break away from the island and make the most of herself and her life. Who is Olive Rainsford, and why does she even care about Emilia? Soon, Emilia is drawn into a world of romance, intrigue and espionage. The story moves quickly and is filled with romance and thrills that keep on coming as fact and fiction are introduced and threaded together. The real events of war, the Iron Curtain, Communism the Dulles brothers, the FBI and the CIA merge with the fictional themes in the novel.
This is truly a book to take on vacation. It captures the reader from the first page as it mixes fact and fiction together, seamlessly. Although written about a time that occurred decades ago, it covers relevant issues of today. Women’s rights, survivor guilt, PTSD, issues of class difference, war and peace, weapons of mass destruction, fidelity, illness, and life and death decisions are confronted.
The author has illustrated how difficult choices sometimes produce undesired results, but making the right choice is necessary, regardless of the outcome. There is simply good and bad in all people, and sometimes there are unintended consequences when the real identity of a person is discovered, and secrets are revealed. Often, people draw the wrong conclusions from events around them. Then they, make impulsive decisions that can alter the rest of their lives, positively and negatively. With maturity comes wisdom, with time, sometimes things will work out.
As the author knits the different tangents of the story together, the reader will occasionally have to suspend disbelief. The scenes sometimes seem implausible. The sex scenes seem too numerous, making the book more chick lit than literature. Still, the story is very entertaining, exciting and uplifting, in the end. This is a great book to take on a vacation. The ending is hopeful and a bit like a fairytale. Although I did not care for the main character’s constant excuses for her behavior, without her sometimes irrational and foolish behavior, there would be no novel. ( )

Emilia Winthrop, present day (1954) is a professor at a local college when she receives a phone call that beckons her back to Winthrop Island, the summering place for the rich and elite, where she grew up, the daughter of one of the island's caretakers (though descendant of the original founders of the island). The story is divided into two timelines, that of 1954, and that of 1946, when dramatic events transpired that caused her self-imposed exile from her family and friends. The story goes back and forth, slowly revealing these (entirely predictable) mysterious events, while giving us a picture of life on an island full of the rich and elite.

It takes quite a while for the reader to establish her "sea legs," as the author introduces us to many disparate characters in the first 1/4 of the book, and the back-and-forth-in-time format does not help to firmly entrench us in the narrative. At one point Emilia says "3 years ago" but it's confusing as to when she means - 3 years ago from 1954? No, the reader goes back to the chapter heading to learn we are "in" 1946 -- so "3 years ago" means 1943? Confusing. The author is also, in this first 1/4 of the book, establishing atmosphere, and while she does manage to capture the magical essence of summer on a New England island, it does slow the action down.

I found the story of Emilia's personal conflicts and social intrigue more compelling than the espionage thriller, the paternity/maternity mystery in this book, or the question of what happened to Emilia's mother. ( )

This novel takes place on the fictional Winthrop Island, moving back and forth between the summer of 1946 and the spring of 1954. The story is told from the point of view of Emilia Winthrop, a descendant of the island's first settlers and daughter of the caretaker of the island summer home (Summerly) of the wealthy Peabody family. Emilia, her older brother Eli, and younger sister Susana spent summers playing with the three Peabody boys. She had a crush on handsome middle son Amory, but was best friends with youngest son Shep.Beatriz Williams' works. ( )

"The Beach at Summerly" by Beatriz Williams was a pretty enjoyable read. The novel follows the lives of Emilia and other residents of Winthrop Island between June, 1946 and April, 1954. Emilia's father is the year-round caretaker of Summerly, the seaside estate that belongs to the wealthy Peabody family. Her ancestors are descendants of the island's settlers. In June, 1946, families are beginning to return for the summer after the war. Some families have secrets that they just assume be kept, while other families are dealing with love, grief and scandal. Ms. Williams did a wonderful job of creating a unique plot, a beautiful setting and characters that you love and hate. Great summer read! ( )