HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Loading...

Summer of '69

by Elin Hilderbrand

Series: Summer of '69 (1)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
1,2075216,355 (3.71)6
Fiction. Literature. Historical Fiction. HTML:Four siblings experience the drama, intrigue, and upheaval of the '60s summer when everything changed in Elin Hilderbrand's #1 New York Times bestselling historical novel.
Welcome to the most tumultuous summer of the twentieth century. It's 1969, and for the Levin family, the times they are a-changing. Every year the children have looked forward to spending the summer at their grandmother's historic home in downtown Nantucket. But like so much else in America, nothing is the same: Blair, the oldest sister, is marooned in Boston, pregnant with twins and unable to travel. Middle sister Kirby, caught up in the thrilling vortex of civil rights protests and determined to be independent, takes a summer job on Martha's Vineyard. Only-son Tiger is an infantry soldier, recently deployed to Vietnam. And thirteen-year-old Jessie suddenly feels like an only child, marooned in the house with her out-of-touch grandmother and her worried mother, while each of them hides a troubling secret.
As the summer heats up, Ted Kennedy sinks a car in Chappaquiddick, man flies to the moon, and Jessie and her family experience their own dramatic upheavals along with the rest of the country. In her first historical novel, rich with the details of an era that shaped both a nation and an island thirty miles out to sea, Elin Hilderbrand once again earns her title as queen of the summer novel.
… (more)
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 6 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 52 (next | show all)
Summer of '69 is the story of sisters Blair and Kirby and their half-sister, Jessie. Off-season, they live in Boston and in-season, they are on Nantucket. During the summer of 69, Kirby decides she's going to get a job on Martha's Vineyard rather than Nantucket, much to the dismay of her mom and her grandmother. Blair and Kirby's brother, Tiger, has been shipped off to Vietnam. Blair is married and pregnant and stays in Boston. Jessie is forced to take tennis lessons at the "club" which she endures, she meets a 15 year old boy, Pick, who lives in the house behind the big house Jessie and her family live in.

This story touches on everything that was going on that summer - Chappaquidick, the space launch, Woodstock coming up and racial tension. I've always enjoyed Elin's books and this one didn't disappoint. ( )
  Cathie_Dyer | Feb 29, 2024 |
Family Drama
  BooksInMirror | Feb 19, 2024 |
I have read other books by Elin Hildebrand, so I expected to escape into a light, fast-moving novel. Ms. Hildebrand delivered. Summer of ‘69 as a title intrigued me, because it was the year I, like the character Jessie Levin, turned 13. It was the middle of three momentous years for me and for the country. Ms. Hildebrand scattered enough authentic summer of ‘69 cultural references — the moon landing, Chappaquiddick (up close and personal for one of these fictional characters), and Woodstock, overlaid by the Vietnam War and the wealth of fantastic music that summer. It is not a literary masterpiece, but it is very good beach reading material, or on the back deck on a beautiful early September evening with a glass of Pinot noir, like me. ( )
  bschweiger | Feb 4, 2024 |
Definitely one of her best stories, a great time period to drop into this large family and their drama ( )
  hellokirsti | Jan 3, 2024 |
Elin Hilberbrand’s latest Summer of ’69 is a disappointment from this beloved author. The nostalgia of the late sixties isn’t enough of a backdrop to warrant a contrived plot dealing with the anxiety of having a son in Vietnam, marriage turmoil, and coming of age. Elin does her usual excellent detail of Nantucket with a brilliant writer’s essence. Yet an emotional core is missing. ( )
  GordonPrescottWiener | Aug 24, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 52 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review

Belongs to Series

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
This book is for the three people who were with me in then early-morning hours of July 17, 1969.

My mother, Sally Hilderbrand, who went into labor four weeks before her due date.

My maternal grandmother, Ruth Huling, who "ran every red light" to get my mother to the Boston Hospital for Women.

My twin brother, Eric Hilderbrand, who i imagine turned to me and said, "Are you ready for this?"
First words
When the Selective Service notice comes for Tiger, Kate's first instinct is to throw it away.
Quotations
It seemed the cruelest circumstance life had to offer---that someone she loved so profoundly could hurt her so badly and still that love did not die. If anything, it intensified.
Ten or twenty years from now, when she looks back on the summer of 1969, she will think: That was the summer I became real. My own real person.
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

Fiction. Literature. Historical Fiction. HTML:Four siblings experience the drama, intrigue, and upheaval of the '60s summer when everything changed in Elin Hilderbrand's #1 New York Times bestselling historical novel.
Welcome to the most tumultuous summer of the twentieth century. It's 1969, and for the Levin family, the times they are a-changing. Every year the children have looked forward to spending the summer at their grandmother's historic home in downtown Nantucket. But like so much else in America, nothing is the same: Blair, the oldest sister, is marooned in Boston, pregnant with twins and unable to travel. Middle sister Kirby, caught up in the thrilling vortex of civil rights protests and determined to be independent, takes a summer job on Martha's Vineyard. Only-son Tiger is an infantry soldier, recently deployed to Vietnam. And thirteen-year-old Jessie suddenly feels like an only child, marooned in the house with her out-of-touch grandmother and her worried mother, while each of them hides a troubling secret.
As the summer heats up, Ted Kennedy sinks a car in Chappaquiddick, man flies to the moon, and Jessie and her family experience their own dramatic upheavals along with the rest of the country. In her first historical novel, rich with the details of an era that shaped both a nation and an island thirty miles out to sea, Elin Hilderbrand once again earns her title as queen of the summer novel.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.71)
0.5
1 4
1.5
2 15
2.5 4
3 52
3.5 24
4 94
4.5 6
5 40

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 205,838,981 books! | Top bar: Always visible