When Lincoln decides to sell the cottage on Martha’s Vineyard that has long been in his mother’s family, he thinks it’s a good opportunity to reunite with his friends from college, Mickey and Teddy. Although it’s more than 40 years since they spent Memorial Day weekend at this cottage, they’ve kept in touch all these years. Back in the day, they were the three students at an elite college who did not share their classmates’ blue-blooded, wealthy backgrounds.
Being on the island brings back memories of Jacey, the girl all three of them loved. She also shared that last Memorial Day weekend with them. Then she left and apparently disappeared from the face of the earth.
Lincoln, a successful real estate dealer who’s had some difficulties since 2008, begins looking into Jacey’s disappearance. Teddy, an editor who sometimes suffers from mental illness, is troubled by his memories of that weekend.
This novel explores friendship, difficult relationships, and even muses on fate. It is well written, as Russo’s novels always are, and engaging. I haven’t had as much enjoyment from Russo’s latest efforts as I did for his earlier ones, but this one comes close to being as good as, say, Empire Falls or Nobody’s Fool.
What? Me Read? 
Sounds like this one could have been inspired by Chappaquidick. I loved Empire Falls; not all well-written novels resonate that way with cultural and historic moments.
Yes, that’s absolutely my favorite of his. Did you know they made it as a TV miniseries, and did a pretty good job of it, I thought. I never thought of Chappaquidick when I read it, and it doesn’t seem like that’s what he had in mind.
The only Russo I’ve read is Empire Falls, which I loved. The storyline of this one sounds intriguing, so I’ll look out for it…
Yes, my favorite.
I don’t know this author at all, but just the idea of being in a cottage on Martha’s Vineyard now is lovely!
Yes, it is. If you saw a Paul Newman movie from 1994 named Nobody’s Fool, that is based on one of his books. There’s another movie out two years ago with the same name, but I think it’s unrelated.
I haven’t heard of Nobody’s Fool, but I do like Paul Newman so off to find it!
Hope you like it!