Have You Read? More by Nan Rossiter
THE GIN & CHOWDER CLUB
SET AGAINST THE beautiful backdrop of Cape Cod, The Gin & Chowder Club is an eloquent, tender story of friendship, longing, and the enduring power of love.
The friendship between the Coleman and Shepherd families is as old and comfortable as the neighboring houses they occupy each summer on Cape Cod. Samuel and Sarah Coleman love those warm months by the water, the evenings spent on their porch enjoying gin and tonics, good conversation, and homemade clam chowder. Here they’ve watched their sons, Isaac and Asa, grow into fine young men, and watched, too, as Nate Shepherd, aching with grief at the loss of his first wife, finally finds love again with the much younger Noelle.
But beyond the surface of these idyllic gatherings, the growing attraction between Noelle and handsome, college-bound Asa threatens to upend everything. In spite of her guilt and misgivings, Noelle is drawn into a reckless secret affair with far-reaching consequences. And over the course of one bittersweet, unforgettable summer, Asa will learn more than he ever expected about love—the joys and heartache it awakens in us, the lengths to which we’ll go to keep it, and the countless ways it can change our lives forever.
“Eloquent and surprising . . . I loved this story of faith, love, and the lasting bonds of family.”
—Ann Leary, author of The Good House
“Nostalgic and tender . . . summons the passion of first love, the pain of first loss, and the unbreakable bonds of family that help us survive both.”
—Marie Bostwick, New York Times bestselling author
WORDS GET IN THE WAY
FROM THE AUTHOR of The Gin & Chowder Club comes an exquisitely heartfelt and uplifting novel that explores the infinite reach of a mother’s love—and the gift of second chances.
The modest ranch house where Callie Wyeth grew up looks just as she remembers it—right down to the well-worn sheets in the linen closet. But in the years since Callie lived here, almost everything else has changed. Her father, once indomitable, is in poor health. And Callie is a single mother with a beautiful little boy, Henry, who has just been diagnosed with autism.
Returning to her family’s quiet New Hampshire community seems the best thing to do, for the sake of both her father and her son. Even if it means facing Linden Finch, the one she loved and left, for reasons she’s sure he’ll never forgive. Linden is stunned that Callie is back—and that she has a son. Yet in the warm, funny relationship that develops around Henry and Linden’s menagerie of rescued farm animals, Callie begins to find hope. Not just that her son might break through the wall of silence separating him from the world, but that she too can make a new start amid the places and people that have never left her heart . . .
“Rossiter’s second novel is an intimate portrayal of a family in crisis, with good character development and a bucolic setting.”
—Publishers Weekly
MORE THAN YOU KNOW
BESTSELLING AUTHOR NAN Rossiter weaves a poignant, empowering novel in which three sisters gather to celebrate their mother’s life—and find new inspiration for living their own.
Losing their father on the night Beryl Graham was born could have torn her family apart. Instead, it knitted them together. Under their mother’s steady guidance, Beryl and her older sisters, Isak and Rumer, shared a childhood filled with happiness. But now Mia Graham has passed away after battling Alzheimer’s, and her three daughters return to their New Hampshire home to say good-bye.
Swept up in memories and funeral preparations, the sisters catch up on each others’ lives. Rumer and Isak have both known recent heartache, while Beryl has given up hope of marriage. But surprising revelations abound, especially when they uncover Mia’s handwritten memoir. In it are secrets they never guessed at: clandestine romance, passionate dreams, joy, and guilt. And, as Beryl, Rumer, and Isak face a future without her, they realize it’s never too late to heed a mother’s lessons—about taking chances, keeping faith, and loving in spite of the risks.
“A gripping story of three sisters, of love lost and found, and of a family’s journey from grief to triumph. A sure winner.”
—Debbie Macomber, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“Rossiter’s patient, deliberate pacing makes this one a perfect bedtime read.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Rossiter’s writing style is compelling. The setup of the novel provides a number of passages that tug at the reader’s heartstrings, and the situations evoke realistic compassion.”
—Houston Chronicle
UNDER A SUMMER SKY
BESTSELLING AUTHOR NAN Rossiter transports readers to Cape Cod with a warm, compelling story of family, new beginnings, and finding the courage to love honestly and well.
The old Cape Cod house that Laney Coleman shares with her minister husband, Noah, and their five boys is usually brimming with cheerful chaos. There’s nothing fancy about the ancient kitchen or the wooden floors scuffed by the constant parade of activity and the clicking claws of their two Labrador retrievers. It’s a place to savor the sea breeze wafting through the windows, or sip coffee on the porch before another hectic day begins. This summer, life promises to be even busier than usual, because Noah’s younger brother, Micah, wants to hold his upcoming wedding on their property.
Although thrilled that Micah has found happiness after past heartache, Laney is apprehensive about having her home turned upside down. She has other concerns, too—her youngest son is being bullied at school, and Noah’s father is not the robust patriarch he once was, in mind or body. As the bride and groom’s large, close-knit families gather, there will be joyful celebration but also unexpected sorrows and revelations, and a chance to store up a lifetime of memories during the fleeting, precious days of summer.
“The setting, with its sea breeze and quaint charm, is immediately inviting, adding to the overall sense of familiarity that the author so beautifully evokes. . . . [T]o read this book is to feel like you’ve come home.”
—John Valeri, Hartford Books Examiner
NANTUCKET
FROM BESTSELLING AUTHOR Nan Rossiter comes a tender, moving story of rekindled passion, set amidst the timeless beauty of Nantucket.
More than twenty-five years ago, Liam Tate and Acadia McCormick Knox fell in love. It was summer on Nantucket, and seventeen-year-old Liam knew that wealthy, college-bound Cadie was way out of league for a local boy who restored boats with his uncle. Yet the two became inseparable, seizing every chance to slip away in Liam’s runabout to secluded spots, far from the world that was trying to keep them apart.
After Cadie returned home to New York and discovered she was pregnant, her parents crushed any hope of communicating with the boy she’d left behind. The silence that greeted Liam’s calls and letters couldn’t change his heart, but over the years he’s settled into a simple, solitary life in his rambling beachfront house. Now he’s learned that Cadie is returning to Nantucket for the opening of her son’s art show. Over a weekend of revelations and poignant memories, Cadie and Liam have an opportunity to confront the difference time can make, the truths that never alter, and the bittersweet second chances that arrive just in time to steer a heart back home.
“There are moments of pure gold in the story that will undoubtedly touch readers’ hearts. With wonderful characters and a charming idyllic setting, Nantucket does pack an emotional wallop along the lines of a good Kristan Higgins book.”
—RT Book Reviews
FIREFLY SUMMER
BESTSELLING AUTHOR NAN Rossiter’s touching new novel reunites four sisters at their childhood vacation spot on Cape Cod—where they uncover the truth about a past tragedy to find their future as a family.
The close-knit Quinn siblings enjoyed the kind of idyllic childhood that seems made for greeting cards, spending each summer at Whit’s End, the family’s home on Cape Cod. Then comes the summer of 1964, warm and lush after a rainy spring—perfect firefly weather. Sisters Birdie, Remy, Sailor, Piper, and their brother, Easton, delight in catching the insects in mason jars to make blinking lanterns. Until, one terrible night, tragedy strikes.
Decades later, the sisters have carved out separate lives on the Cape. Through love and heartbreak, health issues, raising children, and caring for their aging parents, they have supported each other, rarely mentioning their deep childhood loss. But one evening, as they congregate at Whit’s End to watch the sun set, the gathering fireflies elicit memories of that long-ago night, and a tumult of regrets, guilt, and secrets tumble out.
Poignant yet hopeful, Firefly Summer is an uplifting story of the resilience of sisterhood and the bright glimpses of joy and solace that, like fireflies after rain, can follow even the deepest heartaches.
SUMMER DANCE
WINNER OF THE 2018 NANCY PEARL BOOK AWARD
BESTSELLING AUTHOR NAN Rossiter brings together characters from her acclaimed novel Nantucket in a powerful, heartwarming love story that bridges past and present.
When Liam Tate was seven years old, his Uncle Cooper opened his heart and his Nantucket home to the boy. In the intervening decades, Liam has found both love and loss on the island and, since learning that he has a son, Levi, a new kind of happiness. Yet one piece of his family history remains elusive—the long-ago romance between his uncle and Sally Adams. Now Sally makes a revelation that sets the whole town abuzz: she’s publishing a book about what happened during the summer when she and Cooper first met, painting a picture so vivid it feels like yesterday.
In 1969, recently discharged veteran Winston Ellis Cooper III landed on Nantucket with only a duffel bag and a bottle of Jack Daniels. He found a sparsely furnished beach cottage, about as far from Vietnam as he could get. But even here, Cooper couldn’t withdraw from the world entirely. Especially once his eyes met Sally’s in the flickering lights of a summer dance. The effects of that fiery affair can still be felt decades later. As the story unfolds, there are new lessons for all to learn about life’s triumphs and heartaches, and about loving enough to let go. 