I’ve read at least thirty books this quarantine, and this is going to be the one I recommend to everyone. I read it in about a day...I just could not put this boo, down! The storytelling is beautiful, and the characters are complex and fleshed out. I loved that it was set in multiple time periods, so that I could see character growth and change. I also loved the historical setting, and how that shaped the story.

I really like this author. This book was true to her style, but there was something missing. I think it was the lack of happiness.

Beautiful.

The Summer Wives is another intricate, interesting tale by Beatriz Williams. I definitely recommend it!

I have read other books of hers and enjoyed them very much. But this one I found slow and I kept falling asleep after a few pages. So I am moved no on.

The Summer Wives is a rich, compelling novel, crafted with intriguing characters, realistic dialogue and a complex, mysterious plot, involving love, betrayal, and murder. Miranda moved for the summer to a well-hidden Island off the Long Island coast, called Winthrop Island. Miranda’s mother was marrying the handsome Hugh Fisher; a man of great wealth, power, and charm. To the Portuguese Islanders; however, especially, Francisca and Bianca Vargas; Hugh was a conniving devil, a trickster, a man who used his influence to entice and hurt. There are several superbly written, sub-stories in this novel, all interwoven between the pages, and ranging from the 1930s to the 1970s. There is so much going on in this novel, that I read the book twice, to make sure that I didn’t miss any of the intricate pieces that made up this fascinating tale. The author brings the reader deep into the hearts and minds of Bianca Vargas, Miranda Schuyler, Joseph Vargas and Isobel Fisher. My favorite character was Miranda. She was a woman of integrity who by no fault of her own, was caught up in a world of deceit. Joseph touched my heart. He was also a favorite character of mine. He was a good and honest man who suffered unjustly. Isobel, Miranda stepsister was someone I couldn’t warm up to. She was wild, entitled and cunning. Joseph didn’t think of Miranda Schuyler as a person who was part of the Island’s Families, even though, technically she was. Miranda didn’t carry herself like the aloof, elite, wealthy families who summered on the Island. A lot happened that summer of 1951, some things exceedingly joyful, and some so horrific that lives were changed forever. When Miranda left the Island that fall, she didn’t return for eighteen years. Her relationship with her mother and stepsister was almost nonexistent. And her relationship with Joseph, was just so, so sad. Miranda returned, however, eighteen years later to see justice done and to heal from her brokenness. She was not a teen anymore, but an established married woman, a movie star, even. Although, I found the book utterly fascinating and absorbing; I had to backtrack a few times to figure out exactly what was going on. This is the first book that I have read by this talented author, but it won’t be my last. The Summer Wives is a complex novel, well-written and one that I’ll read again. Thank you, William Morrow Publishing and Edelweiss, for my advanced review copy. I loved it!