Publisher: St. Martin’s Press / Macmillan Audio
Published: June 2, 2020
Source: Print: ARC E-copy via Netgalley / Audio via Library
Summary:
Some places never leave you…
After a disastrous summer spent at her family’s home on Cape Cod when she is seventeen, Ann Gordon is very happy to never visit Wellfleet again. If only she’d stayed in Wisconsin, she might never have met Anthony Shaw, and she would have held onto the future she’d so carefully planned for herself. Instead, Ann ends up harboring a devastating secret that strains her relationship with her parents, sends her sister Poppy to every corner of the world chasing waves (and her next fling), and leaves her adopted brother Michael estranged from the family.
Now, fifteen years later, her parents have died, and Ann and Poppy are left to decide the fate of the beach house that’s been in the Gordon family for generations. For Ann, the once-beloved house is forever tainted with bad memories. And while Poppy loves the old saltbox on Drummer Cove, owning a house means settling, and she’s not sure she’s ready to stay in one place.
Just when the sisters decide to sell, Michael re-enters their lives with a legitimate claim to a third of the estate. He wants the house. But more than that, he wants to set the record straight about what happened that long-ago summer that changed all of their lives forever. As the siblings reunite after years apart, their old secrets and lies, longings and losses, are pulled to the surface. Is the house the one thing that can still bring them together––or will it tear them apart, once and for all?
Told through the shifting perspectives of Ann, Poppy, and Michael, this assured and affecting debut captures the ache of nostalgia for summers past and the powerful draw of the places we return to again and again. It is about second homes, second families, and second chances. Tender and compassionate, incisive and heartbreaking, Christina Clancy’s The Second Home is the story of a family you’ll quickly fall in love with, and won’t soon forget.
My thoughts:
Somehow I never got around to reading this debut novel last summer by Christina Clancy, but after reading, and loving, her sophomore novel, Shoulder Season, I knew I had to pick this one up sooner than later and I’m so glad I did – I really enjoyed it! And now I’m kicking myself for waiting so long to read it!
I love family dramas and this one just pulled me right in. I loved that it moved back and forth in time and really allowed the story to unfold bit by bit. I’ve been to the Cape a few times, many many years ago, but there is just something so nostalgic about that place and it clearly comes through in this story.
Sibling relationships are one of my favorite dynamics to explore – I’m the oldest of six, so I totally understand sibling rivalry and I thought that the complexities that the author explored here were so real and relatable. She really hit the nail on the head when it came to issues with communication and lack of understanding and how that could lead to fractures amongst siblings.
This book evoked a wide range of emotions in me, partly because I could relate to so many different parts of it and partly because it was just such a well-written book. Having now read two of Christina Clancy’s books and loved both of them, she is now a must-read author and I will be recommending her books to everyone!
Audio thoughts:
I thought this was a great audio, narrated by Tavia Gilbert, who is one of my favorite narrators. She did such a great job bringing this book to life, giving the characters their own voice, and her pacing and intonation was spot on. I also loved that the audio version included an interview with the author and one of the publishers at Macmillan Audio. It was so interesting hearing how the book came to be, especially since live author events aren’t happening now, and this book came out a year ago. It’s little touches like this that go a long way!
