Happy Release Day!
Congrats Viola
on the release of
The Edge of Summer!
The Edge of Summer by Viola Shipman
Women's Fiction, 368 pages
Published July 12, 2022 by Graydon House
Reminiscent of the complex, uplifting family stories by Nancy Thayer, Sunny Hostin and Mary Alice Monroe, Viola Shipman’s poignant new novel explores the relationship between a curious woman and her secretive mother, taking readers from their hardscrabble life in the Ozarks to her search for answers along the sparkling shores of Lake Michigan.
Devastated by the sudden death of her mother—a quiet, loving and intensely private Southern seamstress called Miss Mabel, who overflowed with pearls of Ozarks wisdom but never spoke of her own family—Sutton Douglas makes the impulsive decision to pack up and head north to the Michigan resort town where she believes she’ll find answers to the lifelong questions she’s had about not only her mother’s past but also her own place in the world.
Recalling Miss Mabel’s sewing notions that were her childhood toys, Sutton buys a collection of buttons at an estate sale from Bonnie Lyons, the imposing matriarch of the lakeside community. Propelled by a handful of trinkets left behind by her mother and glimpses into the history of the magical lakeshore town, Sutton becomes tantalized by the possibility that Bonnie is the grandmother she never knew. But is she? As Sutton cautiously befriends Bonnie and is taken into her confidence, she begins to uncover the secrets about her family that Miss Mabel so carefully hid, and about the role that Sutton herself unwittingly played in it all.
My thoughts about The Edge of Summer ~~
(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first lines.)
First lines—"Prologue: Buttonhole. A small cut in the fabric that is bound with small stitching. The hole has to be just big enough to allow the button to pass through it and remain in place."
Once again, the author has taken something small and relatively incidental from his memories of his grandmother and has woven an intriguing, delightful story around it. This time it's buttons. We all have memories of our mother's, or grandmother's, button box, right? Well, here is a whole family saga wrapped around buttons, and sewing. And it is so, so good!
Sutton goes in search of answers after her mother's passing. Where did they come from and who was their family? Is she going to be happy with the answers she finds?
The Edge of Summer is the perfect read to take up this summer. I highly recommend it!
I received an ARC of The Edge of Summer via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion of the book.
About the author
Viola Shipman is the pen name for Wade Rouse, a popular, award-winning memoirist. Rouse chose his grandmother's name, Viola Shipman, to honor the woman whose heirlooms and family stories inspire his writing. Rouse is the author of The Summer Cottage, as well as The Charm Bracelet and The Hope Chest which have been translated into more than a dozen languages and become international bestsellers.
He lives in Saugatuck, Michigan and Palm Springs, California, and has written for People, Coastal Living, Good Housekeeping, and Taste of Home, along with other publications, and is a contributor to All Things Considered.
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