A Hundred Summers

I devoured this delicious novel in one day. Nick and Lily are on the cusp of getting married. All that is holding them back is Lily's father blessing (Nick is half Jewish, quite the shockerooni for the day) but they aren't going to wait much longer. One massive misunderstanding later and Nick and Lily have gone their separate ways and Nick is married to Budgie, Lily's best friend! Oh no she didn't, oh yes she did! Where does that leave Lily? Well for one thing she's raising her little sister that everyone thinks is her and Nick's kid. She also needs to dig out that knife her best "friend" planted in her back. Seven years later Budgie has the nerve to parade Nick around Lily at the shore retreat in Rhode Island. Oh what a tangled web we show more weave. When first we practice to deceive. Lives will collide and secrets will spill as the storm clouds gather to form the deadly hurricane of 1938.

I really, really, loved this book. The chapters are told alternating in time from when Nick and Lily begin their romance in 1931 and when they meet again in 1938 at the shore. In the end everyone gets what they richly deserve and you can't have a more satisfying conclusion than that. Historical, romance lovers, toss this in your beach bag now! I am off to find Overseas, Williams first book. show less

I've spent a lot of time lately going through Beatriz Williams books. Luckily did I have a lot of them available as audiobooks. Like this one. It's a pure joy listening to Williams books.

In A Hundred Summers are we introduced to Lily Dane who has returned to the summerhouse at Seaview, Rhode Island. However, her peaceful summer is interrupted when Nick and Budgie Greenwald arrives. The couple has just married and they are there to restore Budgie's family's old house. Lily and Budgie used to best friends, and Nick was Lily's boyfriend. So, this reunion is hard for Lily. Through the book, we get to know more about Lily's past through flashbacks as the summer progress and Lily try to get used to having Budgie and Nick back in her life.

As show more usual, is the story Beatriz Williams has woven together fabulous. I spent some blissful hours listening to this book while working and I must say that if there is one thing Williams can do is take what seems to be a kind of straightforward story and throw in some twists. The writing is so good that I can easily picture the wonderful oceanfront community of Seaview. As for the story, I was captivated and I enjoyed that I did not always guess right what would happen next, especially towards the ending. What I truly enjoy is how human the characters in the book are, and that the title and the cover may make it seem like a light story, but there are serious events and people aren't always who they seem to be.

A Hundred Summers is a fabulous book and I recommend it warmly! show less

Lily Dane and Budgie Byrne have been best friends since childhood. We first meet them in 1931 when Budgie coaxes Lily to accompany her to a college football game to watch her boyfriend, Graham Pendleton. Lily immediately notices Nick Greenwald, the quarterback. She is instantly attracted to him and he to her. Budgie thinks it's okay for Lily to like him, even date him, but he is not an appropriate man to consider for marriage. He's J-E-W-I-S-H. They appear to fall totally in love and we don't know what happened. The next time we see them it's the summer of 1938 and Nick is married to Budgie. The story switches between 1931 and 1938 and we slowly learn everything that happened.

I think this book is a great summer read. It's takes place show more in a beautiful beach setting. I always enjoy reading about this time period and thought the author did a good job of capturing the mood, style, and society of that time. The characters were interesting and it was a fascinating look into friendship, betrayal and prejudice. Maybe it was just the moment I was reading it, but I ended up enjoying more than I expected. show less

This is the definitive beach read. (I only wish I had been at the beach while reading it). It has been a long time since I picked up a book that held my attention like this one did. I couldn’t stop thinking about this story and hurried through my workday in anticipation of getting back into the story as quickly as possible. Ms. Williams is an incredible storyteller and I was hooked all the way through, wanting to know how the story would play out. I know a book is good when it can bring tears to my eyes. This is definitely one to put on your “to be read” list.

Wow. I wish I could just leave it like that. I just read the last 150 pages in the last few hours. I really just couldn't put this book down. The first 2/3 of it is a book that I didn't want to finish because I was enjoying it so much and I didn't want the story to end. But that last 1/3 is really fast paced. I don't read much historical fiction so I wasn't sure how I would like it. I loved it. I don't want to give any of it away. It's a great summer vacation book. The story is gripping, the characters are vivid. The story switches seamlessly back and forth between two different time periods with each used to enrich the other. It's just a great story, well told and the historical reference made it very real to me.

Lily Dane is still a college girl at Smith in 1931 when she meets Nick Greenwald for the first time while at a weekend Dartmouth football game with her effervescent childhood friend, Budgie Byrne. After a whirlwind romance and engagement, however, something goes terribly wrong. Several years later, in 1938, Lily returns to the fictional oceanfront community of Seaview, Rhode Island to enjoy another traditional summer…and then learns that her once best friend, Budgie, has landed there as well, accompanied by her new husband – who is none other than Nick. The two young women reconnect, but there is tension that strums beneath the surface and the local townspeople seem to be shunning the Greenwalds primarily because of Nick’s Jewish show more background. And then there are the rumors about the parentage Lily’s six year old sister. As the summer unfolds, dark secrets begin to surface, while a history-making hurricane barrels up the coast and threatens to change Nick, Budgie and Lily’s lives forever.

A Hundred Summers is a terrific and luscious summer read. Narrated in Lily’s singular voice and moving back and forth from 1931 to 1938, the novel is compelling.

Beatriz Williams catapulted onto the literary scene last year with her debut novel Overseas. Her sophomore effort establishes her as a serious writer of women’s fiction. She builds believable characters who hook the reader…and creates sizzling romance interspersed with riveting historical events. The New England Hurricane of 1938 is one of those real events – in fact, it is the basis for the title of the book (Williams explains in the historical notes that New England hurricanes of a Category 3 are called “hundred-year storms” because the probability of such a disaster occurring in any one year is about 1 percent).

I remember my grandmother and grandfather talking about the 1938 storm which they lived through. They told of huge waves, flooding and downed trees which forced my grandfather to drive through neighbors’ back yards and winds which howled endlessly. In her novel, Williams recreates those tense moments perfectly and uses them to amp up the already conflict-ridden plot.

I read through this novel in no time. The way Williams sets up the narrative, flipping back from past to present, kept me turning the pages long into the night. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I really enjoyed this book! Readers who love women’s fiction, but who are also interested in historical fiction, will be drawn to A Hundred Summers. But it is Williams’ pitch perfect dialogue, emotionally engaging plot and fantastic characters who will keep them coming back for more. I’ll be looking for future novels by this talented writer.

Highly recommended summertime read. show less

I saw this book on someone’s blog, so when I saw the chance to win copies for my bookclub, I grabbed it. I did not win the book club set, but I did win a single copy for myself. The cover was inviting, so I made sure to make time for this book.

Though I’m sure some will classify this as historical fiction, there is very little actual ‘history’ in the book. There IS however, a lot of ‘flavor’ from the 1930’s, and you get a feel of the attitudes and clothing of the day, and especially how the ‘summer people’ lived. I would consider this more ‘period fiction’.

The book takes place during the summer of 1938 on the beaches of Rhode Island, with flashbacks to 1931-1932. Lily Dane was engaged to Nick Greenwald during their show more senior year of college in the winter of 1931-32. Flashing forward to summer of 1938, Nick is now married to Lily’s best friend, Budgie, and Lily has a 6 year old little sister. The summer people of the beach community have watched Lily grow up and are more than willing to accept that the child is Lily’s ‘little sister’. Lily has not spoken with Nick since she broke off their engagement, and tries hard to avoid him now. Nick also had a best friend in college, Graham Pendleton, who happens to have cousins on the island who invite him to summer with them in summer of 1938. And Graham and Budgie were an item in college! Needless to say, there is a lot of tension that summer.

This was a quick summer read. It was a bit predictable at times, and at times you had to wonder... If YOU had it figured out, what took Lily so long?? And I did feel that with the storm at the end, some of the ‘loose ties’ got wrapped up just a little too neatly. But the only real issue I had was with Lily’s father, supposedly very tolerant in an age when some weren’t. (The book often mentions Nick being unacceptable because he is a Jew, but Lily feels her father will have no problem with this.) I’m still not sure why Lily’s father had the outburst he had when he was introduced to Nick BEFORE the New Year of 1932. I don’t want to give any spoilers, so I’m not going to go say anymore about it, but there are parts of that detail that I don’t understand.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. It was about what you expect in a summer read. And if you think you understand Lily’s father’s outburst, please leave me a comment! show less