NEW HARDCOVER COMING SOON
NANCY'S LATEST:
BEACHCOMBERS, hardcover
on sale 6/22/2010
About this Book
Beautifully written, powerfully felt, full of both abundant joy and heart-wrenching sorrow, Beachcombers is an extraordinary novel that centers on the bittersweet reunion of three captivating, very different sisters on Nantucket over one gorgeous, exhilarating summer.
Abbie Fox hasn’t seen her father or two younger sisters in almost two years, during which she’s jetted around the world and experienced life, if not love. But now Lily, the baby of the family, is sending Abbie urgent emails begging her to return home to Nantucket. Their middle sister, Emma, has taken to her bed, emotionally devastated after the loss of her high-powered stockbroker’s job and a shockingly unexpected break-up with her fiancé. Also, Lily is deeply worried that Marina, the beautiful, enigmatic woman renting their guesthouse, has set her sights on the sisters’ widowed father, Jim. The Fox girls closed ranks years ago after the haunting, untimely death of their mother, but seeing their dad move on with his life forces each of them to take stock.
Over the course of the summer, the sisters’ lives grow as turbulent as the unpredictable currents encircling Nantucket. When Abbie encounters an incredibly appealing married man, she breaks her own rules in the name of love, fearing all the while that she’ll regret it. Meanwhile, type-A Emma learns a new definition of success, and strong-minded Lily must reconcile her dreams with reality. Even Marina, who has come to Nantucket to forget heartbreak and betrayal, faces an astonishing turn of events that will find her torn between fate and freedom. At summer’s end, these unforgettable women will face profound choices—and undergo personal transformations that will surprise even themselves.
Nantucket novelist Nancy Thayer is the author of twenty novels, including The Hot Flash Series (Hot Flash Holidays, The Hot Flash Club, The Hot Flash Club Strikes Again), Custody, Between Husbands and Friends, An Act of Love, Belonging, Three Women at the Water's Edge, and Everlasting, a Main Dual selection of the Literary Guild in 1991. Nancy Thayer’s books concern the mysteries and romance of families and relationships: marriage and friendships, divorce and love, custody and step parenting, family secrets and private self-affirmation, the quest for independence and the normal human hunger for personal connections.
Dear Reader,
As a child, I wished I could make changes in my life with a wand, like Cinderella’s godmother. As an adult, I know there is no magic wand—but there is magic.
Beachcombers is about four women who must start their lives over the way we all do, with hard work, patience, hope, and the help of family and friends.
The three Fox sisters have lost a lot. Their mother died when they were children. Now they are young women, trying to create their own lives. Abbie, the oldest sister, falls in love with the wrong man. Emma, the middle sister, has been dumped and fired from her job. Lily, the youngest sister—and the prettiest!— wants to be adored.
And then Marina arrives from the Midwest. Freshly divorced, she’s hoping to heal, and happily surprised to meet Jim Fox, a handsome widower. The three sisters feel both threatened and enchanted by Marina.
The girls have always beach combed together, searching for the wealth the sea offers: iridescent blue mussels, oyster shells as white as snow, scallop shells and moon shells and sea glass. Over the course of the summer the sisters and the stranger will discover that life also brings surprising gifts—but will they reach out and take them? It takes courage to change our lives.
I love my new book, set on this island where I’ve lived for twenty-five years. I’ll put more photos and information in my newsletters—sign up for them! Soon I’ll be putting videos on youtube of places on the island that have inspired Beachcombers, and my other Nantucket novels. I hope you enjoy them, and I hope you enjoy my new book.
With affection from Nantucket,
Nancy
EMAIL ME at nancy@nancythayer.com!!
COMING SOON TO PAPERBACK
SUMMER HOUSE, trade paperback
on sale 6/1/2010
About this Book
Thirty-year-old Charlotte Wheelwright seems to have at last found her niche, running an organic gardening business on the island of Nantucket, thanks in large part to her spry grandmother Nona, who donated a portion of land on the family’s seaside compound to get Charlotte started. Though Charlotte’s skill with plants is bringing her success, cultivating something deeper with people—particularly her handsome neighbor Coop—might be more of a challenge.
Now the entire Wheelwright clan is making its annual summer pilgrimage to the homestead, including Charlotte’s mother, Helen, who brings a heavy heart as she confronts a betrayal that threatens her sense of place and her sense of self. Bringing together three generations of strong-willed women, each wrestling with life-changing decisions, Nancy Thayer’s luminous novel shows that no matter where life’s path may lead, love always finds a way back home.
"This well-wrought, appealing book. . .is packed with literally
down-to-earth charm . . .family events play out with unexpected grace.
Insightful."
Janet Maslin
/New York Times, June 12, 2009
"Thayer portrays beautifully the small moments, inside stories and shared
histories that build families. . .She captures the essence of summer,
from the nights when ''the stars, one by one, twinkle on, as if someone up
there were walking through the heavens, lighting them like candles'' to the
physical thrills of gardening or simply sitting in a patch of sun...
the novel reminds us that life is complicated, and the simple
pleasures of family togetherness are too precious to take for granted."
Hannah Sampson, Miami Herald, June 23, 2009
