A Yorktide, Maine Novel
Latest release: June 27, 2023
Series
7
Books
About this ebook series
A summer beach read with heart and substance, this poignant novel will delight fans of Elin Hildebrand, Nancy Thayer, and Shelley Noble, as four older women who are strangers to each other share a house for the summer in the picturesque Maine town of Yorktide.
Sandra Pennington has lived through enough Maine winters to know how long they can be. Even in April, Yorktide is chilly and muddy, adding to Sandra’s pangs of loneliness. It’s been five years since her husband died, her dearest friend is in a care facility, her children are grown, and the big house is suddenly terribly empty. But Sandra has a plan: to rent out three bedrooms and set up a summer bed and breakfast of sorts.
There will be challenges, of course, and Sandra’s daughter is concerned. But Sandra is eager to try and build a community of like-minded, mature women for companionship and support. Soon, one by one, her chosen housemates arrive . . .
Mary, recently retired, is ready to discard her tough lawyer façade. Patty refuses to reveal—or act—her age, but beneath her flightiness lies a deep vulnerability. High-school teacher Amanda feels uncertain about where her long-term relationship is going. But surely it’s too late now to change course?
Over arguments and laughter, these very different women get to know each other—and themselves. And while summer is always too short, there’ll be time enough for reinvention, reflection—and realizing it’s never too late to keep growing, changing—and making new friends . . .
Praise for the novels of Holly Chamberlin
“A great summer read but with substance. It will find a wide audience in its exploration of sisterhood, family, and loss.” —Library Journal on Summer with My Sisters
“Nostalgia over real-life friendships lost and regained pulls readers into the story.”
—USA Today on Summer Friends
Sandra Pennington has lived through enough Maine winters to know how long they can be. Even in April, Yorktide is chilly and muddy, adding to Sandra’s pangs of loneliness. It’s been five years since her husband died, her dearest friend is in a care facility, her children are grown, and the big house is suddenly terribly empty. But Sandra has a plan: to rent out three bedrooms and set up a summer bed and breakfast of sorts.
There will be challenges, of course, and Sandra’s daughter is concerned. But Sandra is eager to try and build a community of like-minded, mature women for companionship and support. Soon, one by one, her chosen housemates arrive . . .
Mary, recently retired, is ready to discard her tough lawyer façade. Patty refuses to reveal—or act—her age, but beneath her flightiness lies a deep vulnerability. High-school teacher Amanda feels uncertain about where her long-term relationship is going. But surely it’s too late now to change course?
Over arguments and laughter, these very different women get to know each other—and themselves. And while summer is always too short, there’ll be time enough for reinvention, reflection—and realizing it’s never too late to keep growing, changing—and making new friends . . .
Praise for the novels of Holly Chamberlin
“A great summer read but with substance. It will find a wide audience in its exploration of sisterhood, family, and loss.” —Library Journal on Summer with My Sisters
“Nostalgia over real-life friendships lost and regained pulls readers into the story.”
—USA Today on Summer Friends
Summer Roommates
Book 1 · Jun 2023 ·
4.5star
A summer beach read with heart and substance, this poignant novel will delight fans of Elin Hildebrand, Nancy Thayer, and Shelley Noble, as four older women who are strangers to each other share a house for the summer in the picturesque Maine town of Yorktide.
Sandra Pennington has lived through enough Maine winters to know how long they can be. Even in April, Yorktide is chilly and muddy, adding to Sandra’s pangs of loneliness. It’s been five years since her husband died, her dearest friend is in a care facility, her children are grown, and the big house is suddenly terribly empty. But Sandra has a plan: to rent out three bedrooms and set up a summer bed and breakfast of sorts.
There will be challenges, of course, and Sandra’s daughter is concerned. But Sandra is eager to try and build a community of like-minded, mature women for companionship and support. Soon, one by one, her chosen housemates arrive . . .
Mary, recently retired, is ready to discard her tough lawyer façade. Patty refuses to reveal—or act—her age, but beneath her flightiness lies a deep vulnerability. High-school teacher Amanda feels uncertain about where her long-term relationship is going. But surely it’s too late now to change course?
Over arguments and laughter, these very different women get to know each other—and themselves. And while summer is always too short, there’ll be time enough for reinvention, reflection—and realizing it’s never too late to keep growing, changing—and making new friends . . .
Praise for the novels of Holly Chamberlin
“A great summer read but with substance. It will find a wide audience in its exploration of sisterhood, family, and loss.” —Library Journal on Summer with My Sisters
“Nostalgia over real-life friendships lost and regained pulls readers into the story.”
—USA Today on Summer Friends
Sandra Pennington has lived through enough Maine winters to know how long they can be. Even in April, Yorktide is chilly and muddy, adding to Sandra’s pangs of loneliness. It’s been five years since her husband died, her dearest friend is in a care facility, her children are grown, and the big house is suddenly terribly empty. But Sandra has a plan: to rent out three bedrooms and set up a summer bed and breakfast of sorts.
There will be challenges, of course, and Sandra’s daughter is concerned. But Sandra is eager to try and build a community of like-minded, mature women for companionship and support. Soon, one by one, her chosen housemates arrive . . .
Mary, recently retired, is ready to discard her tough lawyer façade. Patty refuses to reveal—or act—her age, but beneath her flightiness lies a deep vulnerability. High-school teacher Amanda feels uncertain about where her long-term relationship is going. But surely it’s too late now to change course?
Over arguments and laughter, these very different women get to know each other—and themselves. And while summer is always too short, there’ll be time enough for reinvention, reflection—and realizing it’s never too late to keep growing, changing—and making new friends . . .
Praise for the novels of Holly Chamberlin
“A great summer read but with substance. It will find a wide audience in its exploration of sisterhood, family, and loss.” —Library Journal on Summer with My Sisters
“Nostalgia over real-life friendships lost and regained pulls readers into the story.”
—USA Today on Summer Friends
All Our Summers
Book 2 · Jun 2020 ·
4.5star
Against the picturesque coastal Maine setting that she evokes so well, bestselling author Holly Chamberlin creates a heartfelt story of family bonds and new beginnings . . .
It came as no surprise to anyone in Yorktide when glamorous Carol Ascher fled the little Maine town for New York City. While Carol found success as an interior designer, her younger sister, Bonnie, stayed behind, embracing marriage and motherhood. She even agreed to take in Carol’s teenage daughter during a tumultuous patch. Now both their girls are grown and Bonnie, recently widowed, is anticipating the day she’ll retire to Ferndean House, the nineteenth-century family home on the rocky Maine coast.
But forty-five years after leaving Yorktide, Carol suddenly announces that she’s moving back—into Ferndean. Bonnie is indignant. She’s the one who kept the homestead in order and tended to their dying mother. Now Carol expects to simply buy her out? As far as Bonnie is concerned, Ferndean is part of their heritage—not just another of Carol’s improvement projects, to be torn apart and remade according to her whim.
The entire Ascher family is in flux, uncovering secrets that upend their relationships. Carol’s longing to be welcomed home is fueled by a painful truth she’s carried for years. It will take an extraordinary summer—in a remarkable place—to lead these women back to each other, buoyed by the tides of friendship and forgiveness.
It came as no surprise to anyone in Yorktide when glamorous Carol Ascher fled the little Maine town for New York City. While Carol found success as an interior designer, her younger sister, Bonnie, stayed behind, embracing marriage and motherhood. She even agreed to take in Carol’s teenage daughter during a tumultuous patch. Now both their girls are grown and Bonnie, recently widowed, is anticipating the day she’ll retire to Ferndean House, the nineteenth-century family home on the rocky Maine coast.
But forty-five years after leaving Yorktide, Carol suddenly announces that she’s moving back—into Ferndean. Bonnie is indignant. She’s the one who kept the homestead in order and tended to their dying mother. Now Carol expects to simply buy her out? As far as Bonnie is concerned, Ferndean is part of their heritage—not just another of Carol’s improvement projects, to be torn apart and remade according to her whim.
The entire Ascher family is in flux, uncovering secrets that upend their relationships. Carol’s longing to be welcomed home is fueled by a painful truth she’s carried for years. It will take an extraordinary summer—in a remarkable place—to lead these women back to each other, buoyed by the tides of friendship and forgiveness.
Seashell Season
Book 3 · Jul 2016 ·
4.0star
A mother struggles to reconnect with her long-lost daughter in a picturesque Maine beach town in this novel by the author of Barefoot in the Sand.
Every year on March 26, Verity Peterson visits Ogunquit Beach, where she puts a handwritten message into a bottle and launches it into the waves. It’s a ritual of remembrance for the daughter she hasn’t seen in sixteen years—not since her baby’s father, Alan, took two-month-old Gemma and disappeared. Verity keeps searching and hoping, sustained by the thought that someday she might get to be a mother to her own child. And finally, one phone call may change everything . . .
Verity learns that Alan is now in jail on abduction charges—and Marni Armstrong, born Gemma Peterson-Burns, is coming to live with Verity in Yorktide, Maine. But this isn’t the joyful reunion Verity imagined. Gemma has been raised to believe Verity was an unfit mother who left Alan no choice but to take her out of harm’s way. Over the course of one summer, Verity tries to reach a tough, wary young woman who’s more stranger than daughter. And Gemma must reexamine everything she thought about her parents—and decide whether to trust in a relationship that, though delicate as a seashell on the surface, could prove to be just as beautiful and resilient.
Every year on March 26, Verity Peterson visits Ogunquit Beach, where she puts a handwritten message into a bottle and launches it into the waves. It’s a ritual of remembrance for the daughter she hasn’t seen in sixteen years—not since her baby’s father, Alan, took two-month-old Gemma and disappeared. Verity keeps searching and hoping, sustained by the thought that someday she might get to be a mother to her own child. And finally, one phone call may change everything . . .
Verity learns that Alan is now in jail on abduction charges—and Marni Armstrong, born Gemma Peterson-Burns, is coming to live with Verity in Yorktide, Maine. But this isn’t the joyful reunion Verity imagined. Gemma has been raised to believe Verity was an unfit mother who left Alan no choice but to take her out of harm’s way. Over the course of one summer, Verity tries to reach a tough, wary young woman who’s more stranger than daughter. And Gemma must reexamine everything she thought about her parents—and decide whether to trust in a relationship that, though delicate as a seashell on the surface, could prove to be just as beautiful and resilient.
The Beach Quilt
Book 4 · Jun 2014 ·
4.3star
In a picturesque seaside town in Maine, two families face choices and changes over the course of one eventful summer: “Compelling.”—The Pilot
Everyone in Yorktide, Maine, knows sixteen-year-old Sarah Bauer. She’s a good student and a dutiful daughter, as well as a beloved best friend to Cordelia Kane. So it’s a surprise to all when sensible Sarah reveals that she’s pregnant.
Though shocked, Sarah’s family is supportive. But while Sarah reconciles herself to a new and different future, the consequences ripple in all directions. Her father—a proud, old-time Mainer—tries to find more work to defray expenses. Her younger sister grapples with a secret she can’t share. Cordelia feels abandoned, and Cordelia’s mother faces the repercussions of a long-ago decision. As Sarah’s mother frets about how she’ll juggle childcare with her job at the local quilting store, she seizes on an idea: to band together and make a baby quilt. Piece by piece, a beautiful design emerges. And as it progresses, reflecting the hopes and cares of the women who create it, each will find strength in the friendship and love that sustains them, in hardship and in joy . . .
Praise for the writing of Holly Chamberlin
“A thoughtful social commentary and tender narration of friendship and loyalty.” —Publishers Weekly on Last Summer
“Nostalgia over real-life friendships lost and regained pulls readers into the story.” —USA Today on Summer Friends
Everyone in Yorktide, Maine, knows sixteen-year-old Sarah Bauer. She’s a good student and a dutiful daughter, as well as a beloved best friend to Cordelia Kane. So it’s a surprise to all when sensible Sarah reveals that she’s pregnant.
Though shocked, Sarah’s family is supportive. But while Sarah reconciles herself to a new and different future, the consequences ripple in all directions. Her father—a proud, old-time Mainer—tries to find more work to defray expenses. Her younger sister grapples with a secret she can’t share. Cordelia feels abandoned, and Cordelia’s mother faces the repercussions of a long-ago decision. As Sarah’s mother frets about how she’ll juggle childcare with her job at the local quilting store, she seizes on an idea: to band together and make a baby quilt. Piece by piece, a beautiful design emerges. And as it progresses, reflecting the hopes and cares of the women who create it, each will find strength in the friendship and love that sustains them, in hardship and in joy . . .
Praise for the writing of Holly Chamberlin
“A thoughtful social commentary and tender narration of friendship and loyalty.” —Publishers Weekly on Last Summer
“Nostalgia over real-life friendships lost and regained pulls readers into the story.” —USA Today on Summer Friends
Home for the Summer
Book 5 · Jun 2017 ·
4.5star
A mother and daughter escape to coastal Maine to find healing in the wake of heartbreaking loss in a poignant novel by the author of All Our Summers.
The journey to Yorktide, Maine, was always a happy one for Frieda and Aaron Braithwaite and their two daughters. Frieda loves her mother’s old farmhouse, and the girls have grown closer there, sharing a bedroom and spinning stories into the night. But that was before—when tragedy was something that happened to other families.
Since the car crash that claimed the lives of her husband and their younger daughter, Frieda has struggled emotionally and financially. Bella, now seventeen, is withdrawn and wary, and Frieda fears losing her too.
At her mother’s urging, Frieda decides to return to Yorktide with Bella for the summer. Bella gets a job in a local shop, and little by little edges her way back into the world. But it’s the unexpected connections they make—with a former schoolmate, a troubled teenage girl, and Frieda’s estranged father—that will spur them to find healing amid bittersweet memories, and discover if their bond is strong enough to guide them back to hope once more.
Praise for the writing of Holly Chamberlin
“Chamberlin’s latest is a great summer read but with substance. It will find a wide audience in its exploration of sisterhood, family, and loss.” —Library Journal on Summer With My Sisters
“Nostalgia over real-life friendships lost and regained pulls readers into the story.” —USA Today on Summer Friends
The journey to Yorktide, Maine, was always a happy one for Frieda and Aaron Braithwaite and their two daughters. Frieda loves her mother’s old farmhouse, and the girls have grown closer there, sharing a bedroom and spinning stories into the night. But that was before—when tragedy was something that happened to other families.
Since the car crash that claimed the lives of her husband and their younger daughter, Frieda has struggled emotionally and financially. Bella, now seventeen, is withdrawn and wary, and Frieda fears losing her too.
At her mother’s urging, Frieda decides to return to Yorktide with Bella for the summer. Bella gets a job in a local shop, and little by little edges her way back into the world. But it’s the unexpected connections they make—with a former schoolmate, a troubled teenage girl, and Frieda’s estranged father—that will spur them to find healing amid bittersweet memories, and discover if their bond is strong enough to guide them back to hope once more.
Praise for the writing of Holly Chamberlin
“Chamberlin’s latest is a great summer read but with substance. It will find a wide audience in its exploration of sisterhood, family, and loss.” —Library Journal on Summer With My Sisters
“Nostalgia over real-life friendships lost and regained pulls readers into the story.” —USA Today on Summer Friends
Summer with My Sisters
Book 6 · Jun 2015 ·
4.0star
In a beautiful New England beach town, three sisters rediscover what it means to be a family in this heartfelt novel by the author of Seashell Season.
When Poppy Higgins left Yorktide, Maine, for Boston, she pictured future visits home as brief diversions from her real life in the big city. But fate had different ideas. At twenty-five, Poppy is back in Yorktide to care for her two teenage sisters following their father's death.
Sixteen-year-old Daisy resents Poppy's long absence and chafes under her fumbling efforts to be a parent. Violet, now thirteen, is a virtual stranger to her oldest sister. The once happy family now seem adrift, and Poppy longs to escape her responsibilities. But when the sisters meet Evie, an enigmatic newcomer to Yorktide, the young woman will be an unlikely catalyst in their journey back to each other. For as Poppy discovers the deep loss in Evie's life, she awakens to the truth about her own—and about the home she tried to leave behind.
When Poppy Higgins left Yorktide, Maine, for Boston, she pictured future visits home as brief diversions from her real life in the big city. But fate had different ideas. At twenty-five, Poppy is back in Yorktide to care for her two teenage sisters following their father's death.
Sixteen-year-old Daisy resents Poppy's long absence and chafes under her fumbling efforts to be a parent. Violet, now thirteen, is a virtual stranger to her oldest sister. The once happy family now seem adrift, and Poppy longs to escape her responsibilities. But when the sisters meet Evie, an enigmatic newcomer to Yorktide, the young woman will be an unlikely catalyst in their journey back to each other. For as Poppy discovers the deep loss in Evie's life, she awakens to the truth about her own—and about the home she tried to leave behind.
Last Summer
Book 7 · Oct 2011 ·
3.1star
“A thoughtful social commentary and tender narration of friendship and loyalty” from the bestselling author of A Wedding on the Beach (Publishers Weekly).
The town of Yorktide, close to Maine’s beautiful beaches and the city of Portland, seems like the perfect place to raise a family. For Jane Patterson, there’s another advantage: her best friend, Frannie Giroux, lives next door, and their teenaged daughters, Rosie and Meg, are inseparable. But in the girls’ freshman year of high school, everything changes. Rosie—quiet, shy, and also very pretty—attracts the sneers and slights of a clique of older girls. Over time, the bullying worsens. When Meg betrays their friendship, fearful that she too will be targeted, Rosie suffers an emotional breakdown.
Blaming both Meg and Frannie, Jane tries to help Rosie heal while dealing with her own guilt and anger. In the months that follow, each struggles with the ideas of forgiveness and compassion, of knowing when a friendship is shattered beyond repair—and when hope can be salvaged, one small moment at a time…
Praise for Holly Chamberlin
“Nostalgia over real-life friendships lost and regained pulls readers into the story.”—USA Today on Summer Friends
“A great summer read but with substance. It will find a wide audience in its exploration of sisterhood, family, and loss.”—Library Journal on Summer with My Sisters
“A dramatic and moving portrait of several generations of a family and each person’s place within it.”—Booklist on The Family Beach House
The town of Yorktide, close to Maine’s beautiful beaches and the city of Portland, seems like the perfect place to raise a family. For Jane Patterson, there’s another advantage: her best friend, Frannie Giroux, lives next door, and their teenaged daughters, Rosie and Meg, are inseparable. But in the girls’ freshman year of high school, everything changes. Rosie—quiet, shy, and also very pretty—attracts the sneers and slights of a clique of older girls. Over time, the bullying worsens. When Meg betrays their friendship, fearful that she too will be targeted, Rosie suffers an emotional breakdown.
Blaming both Meg and Frannie, Jane tries to help Rosie heal while dealing with her own guilt and anger. In the months that follow, each struggles with the ideas of forgiveness and compassion, of knowing when a friendship is shattered beyond repair—and when hope can be salvaged, one small moment at a time…
Praise for Holly Chamberlin
“Nostalgia over real-life friendships lost and regained pulls readers into the story.”—USA Today on Summer Friends
“A great summer read but with substance. It will find a wide audience in its exploration of sisterhood, family, and loss.”—Library Journal on Summer with My Sisters
“A dramatic and moving portrait of several generations of a family and each person’s place within it.”—Booklist on The Family Beach House