Telling the truth about their breakup is out of the question, because the cottage is up for sale, and this is the group’s last hurrah. But (surprise!) Wyn is there too, and he and Harriet have to share a (very romantic) room and a bed. She’s ready for a vacation at her happy place-the Maine cottage she and her friends visit every summer. So they keep it a secret from their friends and families-in fact, Harriet barely even admits it to herself, focusing instead on her grueling hours as a surgical resident. They’ve been part of the same boisterous friend group since college, and they know that their breakup will devastate the others and make things more than a little awkward. Wyn Connor and Harriet Kilpatrick were the perfect couple-until Wyn dumped Harriet for reasons she still doesn’t fully understand. Romantic and other dilemmas reach flagged-up conclusions in a novel whose destination is gratification.Įxes pretend they’re still together for the sake of their friends on their annual summer vacation. So, this is what it all comes down to-a tying up of much-dangled loose ends. Fowler presents the family members in great detail less so in the case of the perfunctory C.J., though he too will reach a happy resolution. Backstories indeed fill many pages in this exposition-heavy, distinctly soapy story, which devotes most of its attention to elaborating the problems set up to be unraveled. Reynolds, a figure from her past who has his own problematic backstory. She’s recently spent an amazing night with C.J. Marti kept secrets, too, and Beck has lied to Paul, both for financial and sexual reasons.

Paul, meanwhile, has a secret-he yearns for Claire, and Claire (unbeknownst to Paul) yearns back.

Doing so would also liberate her from her kind but sexless marriage. Beck, a journalist married to book editor Paul, wants to keep the house as a place in which to write the novel she’s longed to complete. Claire, a doctor whose marriage has failed, could use the cash, too, but welcomes the distraction from unrequited love that the house brings. Sophie, who works in Manhattan’s art world but whose life has suddenly upended, needs the money the sale would bring. Sisters Beck, Claire, and Sophie Geller, with their contrasting careers and lifestyles, must come together after the loss of their mother, Marti, whose will requires them to sell the beloved summer cottage they have inherited, a remote house on Mount Desert Island. The title is something of a giveaway in Fowler’s latest, a story of problems endured over many years, sometimes at significant personal cost, but, once aired and shared, reaching self-evident solutions. Love, lies, and long-buried secrets surface as a favored family summer home in Maine is put up for sale.

Therese anne fowler