Jewett creates a mosaic of tales and character sketches, all set in the fictional Maine fishing hamlet of Dunnet Landing. The unnamed narrator, an unmarried female writer (like Jewett herself), has come to the town seeking a summer of solitude and work. But sheś drawn to the villagers she meets. Most of them are over sixty, alone, and covering a roiling inner ocean of feeling with a craggy exterior as rocky as the ragged coastline. Entranced by their...

"Amber - thirtysomething and barefoot - shows up at the door of the Norfolk cottage that the Smarts are renting for the summer. She talks her way in. She tells nothing but lies. She stays for dinner." "Eve Smart, the author of a best-selling series of biographical reconstructions, thinks Amber is a student with whom her husband, Michael, is sleeping. Michael, an English professor, knows only that her car broke down. Daughter Astrid, age twelve, thinks...

A Victorian young woman faces the social restrictions of marriage and yearns for something more as she spends her summer at a resort in Maine.

A year after the death of her husband, Emily Maxwell summons her family to their vacation house on Lake Chautauqua in western New York state, bringing together three generations for one last reunion before selling the home.

In the small town of Eclipse Bay, Oregon, the feud between the Hartes and the Madisons takes a new turn when Nick Harte falls for Octavia Brightwell, a young woman who is secretly related to the woman behind the long-running feud.

The first time Eby Pim saw Lost Lake, it was on a postcard, half a life ago. Now it is about to slip into Ebys past. Her husband George is long passed away, and most of her demanding extended family are gone. All thats left is a once-charming collection of lakeside cabins succumbing to the Southern Georgia heat and an assortment of faithful misfits drawn back to Lost Lake year after year by their own unspoken dreams and desires. Its not enough to...

In the ocean surrounding Amity, a small tourist resort off the coast of New England, a 25-foot man-eating predator stalks any human foolish enough to get in the water. At first, the only believer in the shark's existence is the town's chief of police, Martin Brody. Brody enlists the help of scientist Matt Hooper and Quint, a crusty old seaman whose life is devoted to hunting sharks. The threesome sets off in Quint's boat to kill the leviathan. The...

"Summertime in Bleak Harbor means tourists, overpriced restaurants, and the Dragonfly Festival. One day before the much-awaited and equally chaotic celebration, Danny Peters, the youngest member of the family that founded the town five generations ago, disappears. When Danny's mother, Carey, and stepfather, Pete, receive a photo of their brilliant, autistic, and socially withdrawn son tied to a chair, they fear the worst. But there's also more to...

When Arch Newton, a prominent New York attorney, dies in a plane crash on his way home from a business trip, his beautiful widow, Beth, can barely keep things together. Above all, though, she decides that she must continue the family tradition of going to Nantucket, and at the same time fulfill a promise that Arch made before he died. Beth invites Marcus, the son of Archs final and most challenging client, to spend the summer with her and her teenage...

Terri Rayburn is a small-town girl with a reputation she doesn't deserve. Terri ignores the gossip and focuses on running a summer resort on Lake Kissel. Upon returning home from a trip, she finds a handsome stranger living in her house. She's convinced someone is trying to fix her up--and admittedly, Nate Taggert is just her type. Although Nate is engaged and strictly off-limits, he and Terri become unlikely friends. When Nate hears the rumors about...