Title: A Week at the Shore by Barbara Delinsky
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Contemporary, Women’s Fiction
Length: 392 pages
Book Rating: B+
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley
Summary:
“A first-rate storyteller who creates believable, sympathetic characters who seem as familiar as your neighbors,” (The Boston Globe), Barbara Delinsky presents a captivating new novel about a woman whose unexpected reunion with her estranged family forces her to confront a devastating past in A Week at the Shore.
One phone call is all it takes to lure Mallory Aldiss back to her family’s Rhode Island beach home. It’s been twenty years since she’s been gone—running from the scandal that destroyed her parents’ marriage, drove her and her two sisters apart, and crushed her relationship with the love of her life, Jack Sabathian. Twenty years during which she lived in New York, building her career as a photographer and raising her now teenage daughter Joy.
But that phone call makes it clear that something has brought the past forward again—something involving Mallory’s father. Compelled by concern for her family and by Joy’s wish to visit her mother’s childhood home, Mallory returns to Bay Bluff, where conflicting loyalties will be faced and painful truths revealed.
In just seven watershed days at the Rhode Island shore, she will test the bonds of friendship and family—and discover the role that love plays in defining their lives.
Review:
A Week at the Beach by Barbara Delinsky is a heartfelt family-centric novel of forgiveness and healing.
Middle sister Mallory Aldiss finds herself returning to the hometown she left twenty years ago. Mallory and her thirteen year old daughter Joy are soon off to spend a week with her dad retired judge Tom Aldis and her younger sister Anne. Her decision is prompted by a troubling phone call from her long ago boyfriend Jack Sabathian alerting her to possible trouble with her father. Anne is not exactly happy with what she views as her older sister’s interference but she is delighted to spend time with her niece.
Mallory still plays peacemaker, but she would like to understand why Tom always treated her differently than Anne and their older sister Margo. She is also hoping to find out what exactly happened with her father and Jack’s mother Elizabeth who vanished during a boat trip with Tom. This long unanswered question is the catalyst that tore the family apart with two of the sisters took opposite sides. Mallory is the bridge between her sisters, but will the information they learn bring them together or widen the rift between them?
Mallory is a successful photographer who has blossomed once leaving home. She and Joy are close and she understands her daughter’s need to learn more about her family. Mallory hopes to get to the truth about her family’s past, but she is a little shocked at how fast her father’s health has declined. She still pushes for answers about what happened the night Elizabeth disappeared but will Mallory be able to make sense of what he is telling her?
Immediately running into Jack again, Mallory realizes her feelings for him have not changed over the years. But as they spend time together, their troubled past looms large. Jack is much more settled than he was while they were growing up, but he still clings his version of what he believes transpired between his mother and Tom. With their friendship renewed, will Jack be able to move forward if he does not learn the truth about his mother?
Mallory and Anne’s relationship is a little tenuous as they settle into an uneasy routine. Although completely thrilled with Joy, Anne is defensive and quick tempered with Mallory. She is also reluctant to face the truth about their father so their discussions about his health quickly devolve. Can they move past old hurts and the delicate situation with their father’s failing health?
A Week at the Beach is a captivating novel with an idyllic setting and engrossing plot. The characters are multi-faceted and although imperfect, they are likable. The storyline is interesting with fractured relationships to heal, secrets to uncover and an intriguing mystery to (hopefully) solve. Barbara Delinsky brings this poignant novel to an uplifting and satisfying conclusion. I greatly enjoyed and highly recommend this charming novel to fans of the genre.
