Summer Secrets: A Novel

Summer Secrets: A Novel

Told with Jane Green's keen eye for detailing the emotional landscape of the heart, Summer Secrets is at once a compelling drama and a beautifully rendered portrait of relationships, betrayals, and forgiveness; about accepting the things we cannot change, finding the courage to change the things we can, and being strong enough to weather the storms. When a shocking family secret is revealed, twenty-something journalist Cat Coombs finds herself falling into a dark spiral. Wild, glamorous nights out in London and raging hangovers the next day become her norm, leading to a terrible mistake one night while visiting family in America, on the island of Nantucket. It's a mistake for which she can't forgive herself. When she returns home, she confronts the unavoidable reality of her life and knows it's time to grow up. But she doesn't know if she'll ever be able to earn the forgiveness of the people she hurt. As the years pass, Cat grows into her forties, a struggling single mother, coping with a new-found sobriety and determined to finally make amends. Traveling back to her past, to the family she left behind on Nantucket all those years ago, she may be able to earn their forgiveness, but in doing so she may risk losing the very people she loves the most. "Gripping and powerful."-Emily Giffin "The quintessential beach novel, complete with juicy drama and characters you fall madly in love with. You will devour it!" -Elin Hilderbrand "Warm, witty, sharp and insightful. Jane Green writes with such honesty and zing." -Sophie Kinsella "The perfect summer read...You'll be hooked." -Kristin Hannah “A gripping and powerful novel about finding the courage to make the life you want. This is Jane Green at her absolute best.” ― Emily Giffin, New York Times bestselling author of The One and Only on Summer Secrets “Warm, witty, sharp and insightful. Jane Green writes with such honesty and zing.” ― Sophie Kinsella, bestselling author of Shopaholic to the Stars on Summer Secrets “ Summer Secrets is the perfect summer read. Once you dive into this story about a recovering alcoholic who must finally face her own dark past and make amends, you'll be hooked.” ― Kristin Hannah on Summer Secrets “ Summer Secrets is the quintessential beach novel, complete with juicy drama and characters you fall madly in love with. You will devour it!” ― Elin Hilderbrand “A compelling story of a woman struggling with addiction and seeking forgiveness...Green's latest will bring in droves of readers.” ― Booklist on Summer Secrets JANE GREEN is the author of more than fifteen bestselling novels, including Summer Secrets, The Beach House , and Jemima J . Originally from London, she now lives in Westport, Connecticut, with her husband, children, and a menagerie of animals. Summer Secrets A Novel By Jane Green St. Martin's Press Copyright © 2015 Jane Green All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-250-04734-2 CHAPTER 1 London, 1998 For as long as I can remember, I have always had the feeling of not quite fitting in, not being the same as everyone else. I'm certain that is why I became a writer. Even as a toddler, at nursery school, junior school, I was friendly with everyone, without ever being part of the group. Standing on the outside, watching. Always watching. I noticed everything: how a sideways glance with narrowed eyes could say so much more than words ever could; how a whisper behind a delicate hand had the ability to destroy you for the week; how an outstretched hand from the right girl, at the right time, would see your heart soar for hours, sometimes days. I knew I was different. The older I grew, the more that difference felt like inadequacy; I wasn't pretty enough, or thin enough, or simply enough. I couldn't have put words to it, certainly not when I was very young, other than looking at those tiny, perfect, popular girls and wanting, so desperately, to be on the inside, to be the girl that was always picked first for sports teams, rather than the one left until last. When adolescence hit, I became the friend the boys all wanted to talk to, to confide in, to find out how they could possibly make my best friend, Olivia, interested in them. I was such a good friend, even though I fell head over heels for every last one of them. Adam Barrett afforded me two months' worth of daydreams about how he would realize, as we were sitting on the floor in my bedroom, the Police playing on my record player in the background, that Olivia was not the answer to his dreams after all; he would suddenly notice the silkiness of my hair (always far silkier in my daydreams), the green of my eyes, the fullness of my mouth, as he woke up to the fact that I was so spectacularly beautiful (which I wasn't), how had he not noticed that before? After Adam Barrett it was Danny Curran, then Rob Palliser, and of course, Ian Owens. None of my daydreams came true, and at fourteen I finally discovered a great way of easing the pain of all those unful