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Nancy Thayer

Biography

Nancy Thayer

Nancy Thayer is the author of 35 novels, including SUMMER LOVE, FAMILY REUNION, A NANTUCKET CHRISTMAS and THE HOT FLASH CLUB. Her books are about families, friendship and the beautiful island of Nantucket where she’s lived for 39 years with her husband, Charley Walters, and their spoiled cat, Callie. Sometimes they invite their thousands of grandchildren to visit. She loves libraries, bookstores and Zoom parties.

Her novels have appeared on the New York Times bestseller lists, in Redbook, Good Housekeeping and Cosmo UK, and are translated into many languages.  

Her novel LET IT SNOW was made into a Hallmark Christmas movie entitled Nantucket Noel in 2021.

A Fellow at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference in 1983, she was awarded the RT 2015 Career Achievement Award for Mainstream Fiction.

Books by Nancy Thayer

by Nancy Thayer - Fiction, Women's Fiction

Eddie Grant is happy with her life and her work as a personal assistant to Dinah Lavender, one of the most famous and renowned romance authors in the business. Thankfully, Eddie has the perfect excuse for a vacation: Her hardworking younger sister, Barrett, is opening her gift shop on Memorial Day weekend, and could use all the help she can get. But going home to the beautiful island of Nantucket means facing the family’s difficult past. Shortly after the death of Eddie and Barrett’s brother, their mother left them and their father made the spontaneous decision to buy a small farm. Now that she is back, Eddie must face all she left behind: her father’s increased eccentricities, which has led to a house bursting at the seams with books; her sister’s resentment over Eddie’s escape; and a past love connection, one that is still undeniable and complicated, all these years later. 

by Nancy Thayer - Fiction, Women's Fiction

When her marriage fizzles out, Heather Willette decides to leave her husband and rent a cottage on Nantucket. Her plan is going perfectly --- until her son, Ross, announces he’s moving to Nantucket to work at his girlfriend’s family’s construction business instead of going back home to work with his own father. Worst of all for Heather, this means having to get along with her. Kailee Essex is thrilled that Ross is willing to move to her hometown. She has big hopes for their happily ever after, especially now that her parents are finally showing interest in her career. She’s less thrilled, however, about his mother living nearby. Kailee has clashed with Heather since the day they met. But anything is possible in the summer sun and sea breezes of Nantucket --- even reconciliation.

by Nancy Thayer - Fiction, Women's Fiction

When four strangers rent bargain-basement rooms in an old hotel near the beach, they embark on the summer of their lives. Despite their differences, the four bond over trips to the beach, Wednesday night dinners and everything that Nantucket has to offer. Twenty-six years after that amazing summer, Ariel, Sheila, Wyatt and Nick reunite at the hotel where they first met. Life hasn’t exactly worked out the way they had all hoped. Being back together again will mean confronting the past and finding themselves. Meanwhile, the next generation discovers Nantucket. Their children explore the island together, experiencing love and heartbreak and forging lifelong bonds, just as their parents did all those years ago.

by Nancy Thayer - Fiction, Women's Fiction

Eleanor Sunderland loves living on Nantucket, in a gorgeous cliffside home that has been in her family for decades. Yet this year she can’t help but feel a bit isolated, even as the island begins to come alive with summer tourists and travelers. Fresh off the heels of her college graduation, Eleanor’s dear granddaughter, Ari, has just ended an engagement that felt less like true love and more like a chore. Taking advantage of her newfound freedom, she heads to Nantucket to clear her head before graduate school, moving in with her grandmother and taking a job at the local beach camp. But just as grandmother and granddaughter fall into a carefree routine, a few shocking discoveries throw them off course, and their ideas of the future seem suddenly uncertain.

by Nancy Thayer - Fiction, Romance, Women's Fiction

Lisa Hawley is perfectly satisfied living on her own. As the owner of a popular boutique on Nantucket, she’s built a fulfilling life for herself on the island where she grew up. With her beloved house in desperate need of repair, she calls on Mack Whitney, a local contractor, to do the work. The two begin to grow close, and Lisa is stunned to realize that she might be willing to open up again after all. Her children, Juliet and Theo, worry that Mack will only break their mother’s heart. Both stuck in ruts of their own, they each hope that a summer on Nantucket will provide them with the clarity they’ve been searching for. As the season unfolds, a storm threatens to shatter the peace of the golden island, forcing Lisa, Juliet and Theo to decide whether their summer romances are destined for something more profound.

by Nancy Thayer - Fiction, Romance, Women's Fiction

Christina Antonioni is preparing for the holidays at her Nantucket toy shop, unpacking last-minute shipments and decorating for her loyal Christmas shoppers. But when her Scrooge of a landlord, Oscar Bittlesman, raises her rent, it seems nearly impossible for Christina to continue business on the wharf. Even so, Christina hopes there is a warm heart underneath Oscar’s steely exterior. When she bonds with Wink, his sweet, young granddaughter who frequents the shop, it becomes clear that perhaps he isn’t so cold after all. And with the help of Wink’s uncle, who happens to be a charming and very handsome bachelor, this may be the best Christmas any of them could have ever imagined.

by Nancy Thayer - Fiction, Women's Fiction

Keely Green always dreamed of leaving the beautiful shores of Nantucket to become a writer. Now she’s a bestselling novelist living in New York City and dating a pediatric surgeon who looks good on paper but isn’t “the one.” She just can’t bear to break it off --- until he declares his desire to settle down. Then Keely’s editor rejects her latest novel. With her personal and professional lives suddenly in shambles, Keely longs for the soothing island way of life. Returning home would mean facing former best friend Isabelle, who married Keely’s high school boyfriend, Tommy. But when Keely’s mother falls into a deep depression, Keely knows what she must do, even though she is reluctant to face the person who betrayed her.

by Nancy Thayer - Fiction, Women's Fiction

A few years after losing her beloved husband, Alison is doing something she never thought she would do again: getting married. While placing the finishing touches on her summer nuptials, Alison is anxious to introduce her fiancé, David, to her grown daughters: Felicity, a worried married mother of two, and Jane, also married but focused on her career. The sisters have a somewhat distant relationship, and Alison hopes that the wedding and the weeks leading up to the ceremony will give the siblings a chance to reconnect, as well as meet and get to know David’s grown children. As the summer progresses, it is anything but smooth sailing.

by Nancy Thayer - Fiction, Women's Fiction

Memorial Day weekend means that seasonal visitors have descended on the glamorous island of Nantucket. Year-round resident Darcy Cotterill will be hitting the beach and meeting her new summertime neighbors. But the last person she expects to see staying next door is her ex-husband, Boyz, along with his wife, Autumn, and stepdaughter Willow. Darcy must also navigate the highs and lows of a new romantic relationship with local carpenter Nash Forester, even as she becomes smitten with handsome vacationer Clive Rush, a musicologist in town to write a book and visit family. And she finds herself pulled into the concerns of Boyz, Autumn, a charming elderly neighbor and an at-risk teen.

by Nancy Thayer - Fiction, Women's Fiction

Courtney Hendricks will never forget the magical summers she spent on Nantucket with her college roommate, Robin Vickerey, and Robin’s charismatic, turbulent, larger-than-life family in their gorgeous island house. Now a college English professor in Kansas City, Courtney is determined to experience one more summer in this sun-swept paradise. Her reason for going is personal: Courtney needs to know if Robin’s brother, James, shares the feelings she’s secretly had for him. Time with the Vickerey family always involves love and laughter, and this season is no different.

by Nancy Thayer - Fiction

After learning that her husband is leaving her for another woman, Sophie impulsively rents a guest cottage on Nantucket and leaves Boston for a quiet family vacation with her two kids. Trevor Black has recently lost his wife and is raising a little boy on his own. Hoping a quiet summer on the Nantucket coast will help him reconnect with Leo, he rents a guest house on the beautiful island. When Sophie and Trevor realize they’ve mistakenly rented the same house, the two agree to share it. But as the summer unfolds, Sophie and Trevor must ask themselves if the guest cottage is all they want to share.

by Nancy Thayer - Fiction, Romance

When they meet as girls on a beach in Nantucket, Maggie Drew and Emma Hudson become fast friends. Even as Emma falls for Maggie’s brother, Ben, and the young women’s paths diverge, the duo remain close friends. Then the unthinkable happens: a lifelong friendship is pushed to its breaking point with the appearance of Wall Street trader Cameron Chadwick --- upending both of their lives.

by Nancy Thayer - Fiction, Holiday, Romance

As Christmas draws near, Felicia returns to her family’s home on the island to marry her adventurous, rugged boyfriend, Archie. Her mother, Jilly, is worried that her daughter’s life with daredevil Archie will be all hiking and skydiving. Wondering if their handsome neighbor Steven Hardy might be a more suitable son-in-law, Jilly embarks on a secret matchmaking campaign for Felicia and the dashing stockbroker.

by Nancy Thayer - Fiction, Romance

The author of HEAT WAVE takes us to the beach in winter, when Nantucket is also a delight --- especially as the famous Christmas Stroll winds through its charming, bedecked streets. It’s not so delightful for island newcomer Nicole Somerset, however, since the holidays also bring stepdaughter Kennedy, who can’t accept her parents’ divorce. There with her husband and three-year-old, pregnant Kennedy makes every effort to wreck Nicole’s Christmas plans. Then Kennedy’s oh-so-elegant mother shows up.

by Nancy Thayer - Fiction

Charming ladies’ man Rory Randall dies with one last trick up his sleeve: His will includes a calculating clause mandating a summer-long reunion for his daughters, all from different marriages --- that is, if they hope to inherit his posh Nantucket house. Relations among the three sisters are sour thanks to long-festering jealousies, resentments and misunderstandings. When a visitor drops by the house with shocking news, the past comes screaming back with a vengeance.

by Nancy Thayer - Fiction, Women's Fiction

Three women strike up a friendship while living on gorgeous Dragonfly Lake in Massachusetts. In spite of complications and misunderstandings, their closeness helps one another as each grapples with her particular romantic relationship and searches for her purpose in life.

by Nancy Thayer - Fiction

Set against a beautiful Nantucket summer, this page-turning new novel dramatically explores the corrosive consequences of secrets, and the undeniable power of love.