Thank you William Morrow Books, #partner, for the finished copy of The Beach at Summerly in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Published: June 27, 2023
Summary:
New York Times bestseller Beatriz Williams returns with a ravishing summer read, taking readers back to a mid-century New England rich with secrets and Cold War intrigue.
June 1946. As the residents of Winthrop Island prepare for the first summer season after the sacrifice of war, a glamorous new figure moves into the guest cottage at Summerly, the idyllic seaside estate of the wealthy Peabody family. To Emilia Winthrop, daughter of Summerly’s year-round caretaker and a descendant of the island’s settlers, Olive Rainsford opens a window into a world of shining possibility. While Emilia spent the war years caring for her incapacitated mother, Olive traveled the world, married fascinating men, and involved herself in political causes. She’s also the beloved aunt of the two surviving Peabody sons, Amory and Shep, with whom Emilia has a tangled romantic history.
As the summer wears on, Emilia develops a deep rapport with Olive, who urges her to leave the island for a life of adventure, while romance blossoms with the sturdy and honorable Shep. But the heady promise of Peabody patronage is blown apart by the arrival of Sumner Fox, an FBI agent who demands Emilia’s help to capture a Soviet agent who’s transmitting vital intelligence on the West’s atomic weapon program from somewhere inside the Summerly estate.
April 1954. Eight years later, Summerly is boarded up and Emilia has rebuilt her shattered life as a professor at Wellesley College, when shocking news arrives from Washington—the traitor she helped convict is about to be swapped for an American spy imprisoned in the Soviet Union, but with a mysterious condition only Emilia can fulfill. A reluctant Emilia is summoned to CIA headquarters, where she’s forced to confront the harrowing consequences of her actions that fateful summer, and a choice that could destroy the Peabody family—and Emilia’s chance for redemption—all over again.
My thoughts:
It’s no surprise that I am incredibly fond of Beatriz Williams and her amazing books. I’ve read almost all of them and I love the way she blends historical fiction with amazing characters and fantastic writing to give you such addicting reads. And best of all is how she always manages to weave in Easter Eggs in all her books.
This book is loosely tied to The Summer Wives, in that it is also set on Winthrop Island, but you absolutely do not need to read it before picking this one up. As with most of Beatriz’s books, you will find characters that pop up — and it’s not just from The Summer Wives but from previous books as well – that’s what is so fun about reading her books and what keeps me coming back to her. That and her engaging plots and storytelling. I always get lost in her books, finding myself completely consumed by them.
I was thrilled to know this was another Cold War book. One of her previous books, Our Woman in Moscow, also tackled that time period and I couldn’t wait to see how she handled it again…and I wasn’t disappointed. This one had the perfect summer island setting, the historical suspense, the drama we’ve all come to love from this author and the Cold War espionage that I couldn’t get enough of! It all played out beautifully and I hope it’s not the last we’ve seen of some of these characters – though knowing Beatriz, I’m sure it’s not.
The story, told from Emilia Winthrop’s point of view, alternates between 1946 and 1954, and I was equally invested in both timelines. I usually find that with all of Beatriz’s books – again, that’s a true testament to how engaging and captivated her writing is and how compelling she makes her characters. We have love, loss, spies and a mystery – what more could keep me flipping those pages?
I cannot recommend Beatriz Williams’ books enough!
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