After her daughter’s broken engagement and the news that her daughter’s ex-fiancé has died in a rock climbing accident, Birdie Cousins rallies her troops around the wounded Chess and embarks on a month-long getaway to tranquil Tuckernuck Island, just off the coast of Nantucket, to the family cottage that has sat abandoned for many years. Birdie, in her 50s and recently divorced, has been getting her life back together after an acrimonious divorce from her lawyer husband, Grant, whom she refers to as the “Devil’s attorney.” She has even begun dating again and has found a wonderful companion in Hank Dunlap. Just as everything seems to be fitting into place, her world comes crashing down. Or rather, her daughter Chess’s world, and as always, Birdie is right there to help Chess in any way she can.

The getaway to the old family cottage on Tuckernuck was supposed to be a pre-wedding bonding trip for Birdie and Chess. Despite her best efforts, Birdie and her oldest daughter were never very close. Chess, a Type-A overachiever, became the editor of Glamorous Home magazine before her 30th birthday. Now, at 32, she is suffering the deepest pain she has ever endured and feels that it’s all her fault. She called off the marriage and now Michael is dead. No one knows the reason behind her breaking off the engagement. Chess is harboring a secret that is tearing her apart inside. Upon hearing the horrible news of Michael’s death, Chess shaves off her beautiful long blonde hair, adding to her gaunt and frail appearance, and suddenly quits her job. The always empathetic Birdie recognizes this as a woman who is in freefall.

Helping Chess to heal is going to require many hands, so Birdie enlists her younger daughter, Tate, who grew up as a computer whiz tomboy in Chess’s very girlie shadow. Tate travels the world as a consultant but can’t seem to forget the only boy she ever really loved. And he lives on Tuckernuck Island. As a teen, Barrett Lee, the handsome son of groundskeeper Chuck Lee, never had much time for Tate. He was too busy pining after Chess. But now, Tate is a successful woman in her own right and is determined to let Barrett know how she feels. She only hopes that he doesn’t still have feelings for Chess.

Also accompanying the Cousins family is Aunt India, Birdie’s sister, a well-respected art curator at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and widow of one of America’s premier sculptors. Her husband, Bill, committed suicide 15 years earlier, leaving her to raise their three sons alone. Rather than giving in to despair, which seemed like the most logical solution at the time, she persevered and is now one of the most respected people on the Philadelphia arts scene.

Each of the women is in a different stage of transition --- one reeling from a broken engagement and a death, one trying to reclaim her life after a devastating divorce, another trying to carve her way in the world and take a chance on love, and a fourth still healing after the shocking suicide of her husband years before. They don’t realize it as they embark on this vacation, but each has the power to heal themselves and help one another as well. And being on Tuckernuck, without phones, the Internet and distractions, is key in helping them get back to what is real and what is true. The whole point of the island, as Birdie has always said, is “to live simply,” and in doing that, the women come away stronger for it.

As she does in most of her Cape-set novels, Elin Hilderbrand espouses the restorative powers of a little sea air, some sand between your toes, and the love of good friends and family. Her previous eight novels were all set on Nantucket, but for this, her ninth, she takes readers to a little-known island off the coast, just a little slip of an island where the outside world can’t intrude. And against the scenic backdrops of warm sunsets and wafting bonfires, secrets are revealed, loyalties are tested, and bonds are reaffirmed. Hilderbrand’s summertime novels have become a staple of the season --- as welcome and enjoyable as summer vacation itself.