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For some people, summer is a time of weekend trips to the public pool and burgers on the grill. For others, it’s so much more—a time to get out of the bustling city, to be seen, to throw (and attend) the biggest parties of the year. And in Summer Darlings by Brooke Lea Foster, a young woman finds herself caught in the middle of a high-society summer.
The story travels to Martha’s Vineyard at the start of the summer of 1962. College student Heddy Winsome has left Brooklyn behind to spend the summer caring for the children of a rich and fabulous couple. Having just discovered that her scholarship has been revoked, Heddy is desperate to make the right connections—and, hopefully, find herself a rich husband. She immediately falls for handsome entrepreneur Ash, though wealthy, connected Sullivan might be a better choice. But as she spends her summer in the sun, she begins to realize that money doesn’t solve everything.
Throughout her months with the elite summer residents of Martha’s Vineyard, this determined but naïve nanny finds herself in over her head. After three years at a prestigious college, she thinks she understands the rich and entitled—even though she’s never really been welcomed into her classmates’ social circles. But nothing at school has prepared her for the people she meets during her summer on the island. Everything here is gossip and backstabbing. Everything is a competition: who has the right friends, the right clothes, the right hair, the right guests at their summer party? And though Heddy desperately wants to be a part of their circles, she’s just the help, and she’s mocked for trying to be someone she’s not.
Meanwhile, as Heddy tries to make the right match with the right man, there’s more going on beneath the surface of the story. If you pay attention to the idle gossip, you might notice a few mysteries playing out. No one here is exactly as they’d like everyone to think they are—and the secrets and lies come to a head in the end.
If you’re looking for a light, breezy read about summer in the ‘60s, then, you might be surprised by how dark Summer Darlings can be. It certainly has its glamour and its summer fun—but it isn’t all peace and love and surfing. But it’s also filled with a whole lot of unhappy characters who are all just fighting to keep their place in society (and keep everyone else out of it).
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