Jane Green is a marvel. It's barely been six months since the publication of SAVING GRACE, a suspense novel that was also a psychologically perceptive portrait of a woman in crisis. Now Green is back with SUMMER SECRETS, which, as the title might indicate, is poised to be a favorite beach read for this summer and beyond.

Like many of Green's previous books, SUMMER SECRETS explores a serious issue under the guise of so-called women's fiction. In this case, the issue is alcoholism and its lifelong repercussions on relationships. When we first meet Cat Coombs, she's single and (relatively) proud of it. She has a job that she's good at, and she enjoys going out with her friends after work. So what if one drink inevitably turns into five or six? So what if half the time she wakes up not recalling the night before --- or worse, wakes up in a strange bed with a strange man? So what if most of her partying companions are now paired off and starting families? For Cat, drinking is a way to fit in, to validate her sense of self-worth, something that always has been hard given her domineering, distant, disapproving father.

"Cat's story, dark as it is at times, also provides glimpses into Nantucket, which Green portrays as realistically flawed but also as sort of the quintessential summer place. This makes SUMMER SECRETS the perfect novel to tuck into one's beach bag this summer."

But now her father is dead, and her mother (who also suffered in a bad marriage to Cat's father) is newly free. She shares with Cat a life-changing secret that leads Cat across the Atlantic to Nantucket and a family she didn't even know existed. Cat is also embarking on a brand-new relationship with Jason, a recovering alcoholic who has urged Cat to recognize that she has a problem and has shown her how to get help. At first, Cat's visit to Nantucket feels like a dream --- she finally feels like she fits in on the island in a way she never has felt without using alcohol --- but soon Cat's old habits catch up with her, and she is in danger of losing everything she has worked so hard to gain.

Ultimately, SUMMER SECRETS is the story of three pivotal summers separated by decades --- summers affecting the lives of Cat's mother, Cat herself, and even Cat's daughter, who's a teenager at the novel's close. This broad focus can make the novel seem unfocused at times, although Green does tie most of the threads together successfully (still, one wishes that we would have heard more from Cat's mother as an older woman rather than primarily as a young bride). This structure also drives home Green's themes about the wide-reaching and often unexpected consequences of addiction.

Cat's story, dark as it is at times, also provides glimpses into Nantucket, which Green portrays as realistically flawed but also as sort of the quintessential summer place. This makes SUMMER SECRETS the perfect novel to tuck into one's beach bag this summer.