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Title:
Summer Island

Author:
Kristin Hannah

Published By:
Random House
Publishing Group
ISBN:
0345441133

Copyright:
June 2002

Format:
Print

Nora Bridge is a successful advice columnist and radio talk show host. She has legions of fans who adore her, and who depend upon her moralistic and deeply personal advice. However, when nude photos of Nora posing in the arms of another man while married to her husband surface, those same loyal fans are ready to turn against her.

Devastated, Nora believes that the past has finally caught up with her, and has truly lost everything. Eleven years ago, she walked out on her husband and abandoned her two young daughters who never forgave her for that betrayal. Caroline, the eldest daughter is an expert at keeping her chin up and avoiding confrontation, which explains why her relationship with Nora is cold and impersonal. Ruby, on the other hand, has struggled to make a career out of her hatred for her mother. When Ruby is offered a large sum of money to write an exposé on Nora, she eagerly agrees. Believing that the best way to write an in-depth article on her mother is to spend some time with her, Nora and Ruby find themselves back at Summer Island – a place that holds many memories for them both.

Kristin Hannah's strong point in this novel is her characterization. Nora shines through the pages; realistically believable as a mother who yearns for a relationship with the daughters she abandoned when she walked out on her marriage. Ruby is equally endearing as the betrayed daughter who harbors nothing but hatred and resentment for her mother – until she's forced to admit that the "truth" she thought she knew for so many years isn't exactly reality, but a fiction she's devised in her own mind in order to continue to despise her mother.

Sprinkled among the mother-daughter story is a tale of two brothers. Eric, who is dying of cancer, and Dean, who has also been estranged from his brother for many years, but comes home to Summer Island to be with him in his last days. Dean and Ruby were childhood sweethearts, but a bitter break-up has left them both empty and unfulfilled. Romance starts to brew in this island when they meet again after so many years – but is their relationship destined to last, when they both carry so much emotional baggage?

Summer Island is a story that any mother or daughter will enjoy. It's impossible not to relate to the characters in this novel, which seem to come alive through the pages to pull at the readers' heartstrings. A story of redemption, forgiveness, and intense drama, this one novel requires a full box of tissues to get through.

Reviewed by: Liz