The summer wives
(Book)

Summer, 1951: Miranda Schuyler arrives on the elite, secretive Winthrop Island as a schoolgirl from the margins of high society, still reeling from the loss of her father in WWII. When her mother marries Hugh Fisher, Miranda is catapulted into a heady world of pedigrees and cocktails. Miranda's new stepsister, Isobel--all long legs and world-weary bravado--is eager to draw Miranda into the arcane customs of Winthrop. But beneath its patrician surface, there are two clans: the summer families and the working class Portuguese fishermen and domestic workers who earn their living on the water and in the laundries. Uneasy among privilege, Miranda finds herself drawn to Joseph Vargas, whose father keeps the lighthouse. Joseph helps his father in the lobster boats, but in the autumn he returns to Brown University, determined to make something of himself. As the summer ends, Miranda is caught in a catastrophe that banish her from the island. Now, in the summer of 1969, Miranda returns at last, as a reknowned actress hiding a terrible heartbreak.