I thought this was a fantastic book. The story was intriguing and suspenseful, and the premise was very uniques. The pacing of the story was excellent. It seemed to move both quickly and slowly - tricky to get that to happen and even more tricky to get it to work well! A fantastic novel. Recommended for all public library collections.

I’m a huge fan of Beatriz Williams’ historical fiction novels. I love the way the characters and settings of her novels are so intertwined. “The Beach at Summerly “ is no exception. While the characters may seem new, Winthrop Island is making its second appearance. The story didn’t really get going until the last third of the book and then I couldn’t put it down. There were a few little twists that I didn’t see coming and that kept me really engaged. I suspect we might meet some of these characters again.

3.5 ⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley for my review copy.

The Beach at Summerly is one of my favorites by Williams, it's a close second to Her Last Fight, which came out a few years ago. The story goes between 1946, when the events that shaped Emilia and her families life took place, and 1954. Although the story in 1946 takes precedent and is the more engrossing storyline, the storyline in 1954 doesn't drag along like some other books with dueling timelines. I also enjoyed the time that the book took place, its not often that I find books that are set right after the war, and I think it was such an interesting time in Americas history as it was healing form the losses of war, and that is not lost on the characters in the book.

In this book, Beatriz Williams is picking up some loose threads from Our Woman in Moscow. Unlike the previous book, this story is set in summery New England. Using her trademark parallel storylines, the story of love, spies, and family slowly unfolds. Another winner!

I’m a big Beatriz Williams fan and I enjoyed this book as much as all of her other books. I loved the setting, she is always really good and creating a setting and making you feel like you are there.

Emilia Winthrop never planned to go back to Winthrop Island after that summer, the summer when everything changed, but with the death of her father she had to return. Returning brought back the events of the summer of 1946 when Olive Rainsford and her children came to stay with the Peabody family. It was the summer the Peabody sons returned from the war and the Winthrop sisters hoped for more than being the help. But when Sumner Fox comes to the island everything changes for Emilia. Now years later she has made something of a life when tragedy strikes again and Sumner Fox reappears. What price will Emilia pay?

I guess this was fine, but it lacks the sense of place and immersive quality that has made many of Williams’ previous books so appealing.

The setting for this was great in theory, but it’s not much of a factor in the plot and isn’t given nearly as much attention as Williams used to give to establishing sense of place and time. This bums me out because she has always been a notably better writer than most in the women’s Historical Fiction subgenre, but lately she seems to be falling into a more typical style and chasing more common themes rather than going in her own unique direction as she used to.

Cold War and McCarthyism themes seem to be very popular in this genre right now, which I don’t love because I don’t think they lend themselves all that well to atmospheric historical fiction in the first place, and because there aren’t that many directions to go in with the topic and they’re all pretty played out.

I didn’t hate what Williams tried to do with the topic, though it didn’t make me any less tired of it in a general sense, and it didn’t help with the lack of beachy, summery atmosphere we were promised in the book summary, nor did it make up for the lack of immersive historical detail.

On the plus side, Williams continues to write excellent protagonists, as well as some fascinating secondary characters who toe the villain/antihero line in interesting ways. And I appreciate the sharp, snappy dialogue, which helped tremendously with livening up a semi-shopworn theme.

Summers were a tradition. Something to look forward to every year. But the first summer of WWII changes all of that. It is hard to relax when the world is ending around you. Plus, perfect can't last forever.
Beatriz Williams is a go to author of mine. When she has a new release, I start reading as soon as I see the cover.
This time is no different. Based off just the title, I thought this was going to be a little lighter than the past novels of Williams but I was wrong. Yes it looks like a beach read, but a lighthearted romance it is not.
The author weaves together three families in a stuffy New England annual vacation spot. With the war being an occurrence but not something seen first hand, the real worries and concerns of war are for other people. Until
the treat of espionage and the cold war is on the beach at Summerly.
Innocence is replaced by fear. Vacation is replaced by a new reality. A family

Emilia Winthrop's summers will never be the same now that Olive Rainsford has lured Summerly's darling, Emilia, away from its safe beaches. The author could have painted Olive as a villain, but she rather shows us how her, or someone like her, is needed for Emilia to grow and learn.

I haven’t read a book by Beatriz Williams in some time and after reading The Beach at Summerly, I wonder why. I was on the edge of my seat and couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. Ms. Williams is a master of the historical novel and I thank NetGalley for the advanced copy. If you haven't read anything by Beatriz Williams before, you are seriously missing out.

Once again Beatriz Williams brings us another delightful historical fiction book!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved this story so much I read it in one sitting. You Will not be disappointed if you are a historical fiction fan.

I am a huge fan of historical fiction, and Beatriz Williams delivers with THE BEACH AT SUMMERLY.

Emilia Winthrop's (aka Cricket) story is told in alternating timelines. It starts in the present date of 1954 where she is a professor at Wellesley, and jumps to the 1946 on Winthrop Island where she lives taking care of her invalid mother and working at the local library. The opening of the book felt like it jumped right into the middle of the present day story with little explanation or introduction, and then jumped to the past before you could really get your teeth into it, so it felt a bit confusing at first. There are a lot of characters, and for me took a few chapters for the present day timeline to really start to make sense - but by the time it came into focus, I was good and well hooked. The 1946 timeline has more meat to it and was what really sucked me into the story - and this WAS a page turner. It was a great mix of mystery and intrigue, summer love and familial duty.

It would make for a fantastic beach read if you're looking for something you can really dig into. (This is not a fluffy beach read!)

This is a great book readers who enjoy:
- historical fiction
- dual timelines
- post WWII Cold War era spies
- fantastic characterization

An entertaining beach read/spy thriller set in the 1950s with enough similarities to imagine that the story takes place now. Engaging characters, historical veracity, and enough twists and turns to keep you thoroughly entertained.

Williams delivered so much more than I was anticipating in The Beach at Summerly! It's a story of island folk versus the wealthy elite who summer there, war and its losses, Cold War spies, and political ideology. Add a sprinkling of romance, familial obligations, and a woman's fierce desire for a college education, and you begin to get an idea of the scope of this novel. I particularly enjoyed the various plot twists. Five stars!

I have taken a hiatus from any historical fiction surrounding WWII because I feel like I have been inundated with it (this is one me, because I have been drawn to that era) for the past few years. But then Beatriz Williams comes along and I obviously have to read it. A quick and immersive read, Williams has crafted yet another awesome work of historical fiction.

Told in alternate timelines, this is the story of two very strong, passionate and intelligent women - Emilia Winthrop and Olive Rainsford. Emilia’s family works for the wealthy Peabody’s - on an island named after them but on which they own nothing. She has grown up in the shadow of their mansion, with their two fascinating sons since she was a girl - but in 1946 she is grown and realizing more and more that the Peabody boys are no longer like her brothers. As the summer continues on, Emilia develops a deep affection and connection with Olive - the young aunt of the Peabody boys. But Olive is hiding something and Emilia is poised to find out.

The timeline switches to 1954 when Emilia is a professor and trying to keep her life together eight years after the devastating summer on Winthrop island. The story has intrigue - Soviet spies, CIA missions, Cold War terror; it has romance, humor and familial secrets as well as tragedies. An excellent read.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book.

Emilia "Cricket" Winthrop has spent her entire life on Winthrop Island in the Long Island Sound. The island was originally settled by her ancestors but over the years, the Winthrop family have sold everything and now her father works as the estate keeper for the Peabody family, who own the largest estate on the island. The Peabodys have been coming to Winthrop Island all Cricket's life, but are returning after an absence of several years, due to WWII. It is 1946 and the island was all but deserted during the War. But now the summer people are headed back. All three of the Winthrop boys served in the war, but the oldest was killed, as was Cricket's older brother, so it won't be exactly the same, but Cricket has hopes they can relive their carefree pre-War days anyway.

Also coming along is the Peabody's aunt, Olive Rainsford, who has been talked about for her free-living lifestyle and Cricket can hardly wait to see her and hear her stories. When they meet, Olive offers Cricket a job caring for her children in the evenings, while she does some writing in the attic, which she has fitted out as an office. Olive is everything Cricket has imagined and she easily falls into an easy relationship with her. Olive, on the other hand, encourages Cricket to leave the island and go live her life of adventure.

Also adding to the island is a mysterious writer who has come to write a book about a famous snowstorm back in the early 1900s and asks Cricket, as part of her day job as a librarian, to research material for him. But when she delivers the material to him, he is strangely uninterested and instead asks her to help him catch a spy working on the island and transmitting secret information to Russian operatives!

The story then shifts to 1954, in Wellesley, where Cricket, now known as Emilia, is a professor and with her younger sister are raising a young daughter. Word comes again from the mysterious writer who informs her that the spy they caught eight years ago is about to be swapped for an American spy held by the Russians, but has asked for a meeting with Emilia before the final arrangements are made.

The shifts from 1946 to 1954 are well done, and the full story of that summer slowly emerge. This is a good story, exposing a part of American history I had not known, and it kept my interest fully.

Thanks to William Morrow & Company along with NetGalley for providing me with an early copy to read and review.

The first few chapters were a bit confusing and led to a slow start, but then I was completely engrossed and could not put this book down.

An incredibly captivating historical fiction novel set on the East Coast during the Cold War. It’s a time period that hasn’t been as popular of late in the historical fiction world and so I found it to be incredibly interesting. Can’t wait to read the next novel from Ms. Williams.

I was expecting a light, airy no substance beach read and instead found a well written, fully engaging piece of historical fiction. The story is set in the 1940s and 50s, in the height of the McCarthy era.

Winthrop Island comes to life when the summer folks arrive. Although the island bears the name of Emilia’s ( Cricket) forebears, her father is now the caretaker to the wealthy summer inhabitants. This is the seemingly tranquil setting and it’s filled with romance and teen love. But beneath the surface looms a spy story replete with the lurking of a persuasive steadfast FBI agent, who will stop at nothing to put his prey in prison.

What a surprisingly enjoyable four stars read. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher William Morrow for providing me with a copy in return for my honest review.

This was so good! I stayed up way too late last night finishing it. Beatriz Williams has such a gift for creating beautifully fleshed-out characters and for bringing her historical settings to life, and her books are also full of suspense which makes them irrestible for summer reading. The Beach at Summerly is a stand-alone novel, but it is also somewhat of a sequel to Our Woman in Moscow, as Sumner Fox is an important character in Summerly. The setting of Summerly, Winthrop Island, is the same east-coast fictional island featured in Williams' earlier book, The Summer Wives (I'm completely obsessed with the universe of characters and places the author has crafted). The Beach at Summerly begins in 1954, when Emilia Winthrop is summoned back to her island birthplace after her father dies suddenly. The book alternates between 1954 and the momentous summer of 1946, when everything changed for Emilia and her family. I don't want to spoil any key plot-points, but I will say that I loved reading about life after WWII, the haves and have nots of New England society, Cold War drama, and the beginnings of the Soviet spy-ring. Truly captivating reading for your summer! Thanks to Netgalley, William Morrow, and the author for the librarian preview copy.

BRAVO to Williams for creating yet another masterpiece. While I admit I haven't read nearly enough of her books, this is the second one that i've come away from feeling breathless.

Williams sets this story in a dual timeline, one just after WWII has ended and the other a few years later. Both are exquisite. Set on a remote island in the Long Island Sound the summer after the war has ended and the wealthy are returning to their summer homes, we're introduced to Emilia Winthrop, a girl who has grown up on the island that bears her familial name and has spent summers cavorting with the male children of one of the wealthy summer families. We learn about their long history through Emilia's narration and we meet a pair of these boys over the course of the story.

The second timeline takes place near Boston after some even has taken place a few years before, that fateful first summer after the war. We're given to know that Emilia was essential in the capture of a Soviet spy working out of the island, a spy who just so happens to be related to the wealthy family Emilia has grown up beside.

Williams doles out information in a deliciously slow manner. There are key events that area alluded to in the "present" that don't come to fruition until much later in the "past" but the manner in which they are written about keeps you guessing until the very last moment. Sometimes dual timelines can get rote, because they're something that we see an awful lot in historical fiction these days, but never does it feel like that in this book.

I also have to say that Williams has created an incredible character and narrator with Emilia. There is a forcefulness to her that can be lacking in historical fiction heroines. There is an innocence laced with longing in the past, and a hardness in the present that still feel like they belong to the same character. Emilia is forthcoming and strong. She is written in earnest. I wish I knew the word for this kind of narrator or character but she's strong. That word doesn't quite encompass all that I mean, but I think if you read this book you'll feel the same way I did.

The book alternants between 1946 and 1956. The 1946 takes place on The Beach of Summerly where Cricket's parents are caretakers and explores her childhood. The 1956 explores Cricket navigating through adulthood and her possible involvement in a spy ring. It was a quick read but I found it a little boring.