Over seven decades of a changing America, through wars and storms, betrayals and reconciliations, Virginia Hume's Haven Point explores what it means to belong to a place, and to a family, which holds as tightly to its traditions as it does its secrets.
1944: Maren Larsen
is a blonde beauty from a small Minnesota farming town, determined to
do her part to help the war effort––and to see the world beyond her
family’s cornfields. As a cadet nurse at Walter Reed Medical Center,
she’s swept off her feet by Dr. Oliver Demarest, a handsome Boston
Brahmin whose family spends summers in an insular community on the rocky
coast of Maine.
1970: As the nation grapples with the
ongoing conflict in Vietnam, Oliver and Maren are grappling with their
fiercely independent seventeen-year-old daughter, Annie, who has fallen
for a young man they don’t approve of. Before the summer is over a
terrible tragedy will strike the Demarests––and in the aftermath, Annie
vows never to return to Haven Point.
2008: Annie’s
daughter, Skye, has arrived in Maine to help scatter her mother’s ashes.
Maren knows that her granddaughter inherited Annie’s view of Haven
Point: despite the wild beauty and quaint customs, the regattas and
clambakes and sing-alongs, she finds the place––and the people––snobbish
and petty. But Maren also knows that Annie never told Skye the whole
truth about what happened during that fateful summer.
Praise for Haven Point:
"Fans of Elin Hilderbrand and Beatriz Williams will appreciate this sweeping, multigenerational family story.”––Booklist
"Unfolding from WWII to the present day, this delicious, intricate novel is woven together with romance, tragedy, family secrets and breath-taking surprises. I will read Haven Point over and over. I’ll give it to my friends. I’ll read anything Virginia Hume ever writes." ––Nancy Thayer, New York Times bestselling author of Girls of Summer
“Haven Point checks all the boxes for a great summer read: generations of strong women, an idyllic but insular coastal town, and an emotionally-rich story that explores the peaks and valleys of life in all its complicated glory. The Demarest family will stay with you long after their final secrets have been revealed.”––Jamie Brenner, nationally bestselling author of The Forever Summer
"Haven Point
has all of the elements of a great beach read: sparkly summer town,
beautiful people, sun-kissed cocktail parties and rambling mansions
overlooking the sea. But don’t be fooled: No one is perfect. Hume
has created unforgettable characters in the three generations of
Demarest women whose stories unravel the dark secrets swirling around
Haven Point, all while testing their character and family bond. A
powerful novel of families trying to understand the forces that shape
them just as the ocean shapes the elegant coastline they're summering
on."––Brooke Lea Foster, author of Summer Darlings
“A shimmering debut novel
about four generations, a summer community in coastal Maine, and the
secrets, grief and prejudices that are unwittingly passed down through
the years. Rewarding and atmospheric, with deeply drawn characters and a setting you won’t soon forget. Delicious!” ―Jennie Fields, author of Atomic Love
AUTHOR VIRGINIA HUME SAYS:
"I've come to fiction writing after a long series of professional adventures.
Suffice it to say: I spent the first few years of my career in marketing before I was bitten by the political bug, after which I spent a couple of decades in politics and public affairs communications. They say truth is stranger than fiction. At some point, I decided politics had gotten a little too strange, and I turned to fiction.
My debut novel, Haven Point (St. Martin’s Press) will be released on June 8, 2021. I graduated from Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor’s Degree in History. I live in Chevy Chase, Maryland with my husband, Drew Onufer, our two daughters, and the aforementioned undergroomed Bichon, Chester. I'm hard at work on my second novel."
https://virginiahume.com/
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