A Week at the Shore: A Novel

by Barbara Delinsky

Overview

In A Week at the Shore, New York Times bestselling author Barbara Delinsky explores how lives and relationships are forever changed when three sisters reunite at their family Rhode Island beach house.

One phone call is all it takes to lure real estate photographer Mallory Aldiss back to her family Rhode Island beach home. It's been twenty years since she's been gone—running from the scandal that destroyed her parents' marriage, drove her and her two sisters apart, and crushed her relationship with her first love. But going home is fraught with emotional baggage—memories, mysteries and secrets abound.

Mal's thirteen-year-old daughter, Joy, has never been to the place where Mal's life was shaped and is desperate to go. Fatherless, she craves family and especially wants to spend time with the grandfather she barely knows.

In just seven watershed days on the Rhode Island coast three women will test the bonds of sisterhood, friendship and family, and discover the role that love and memory plays in defining their lives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250125170
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/25/2021
Pages:	432
Sales rank:	144,033
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Barbara Delinsky is the author of such New York Times bestselling books as Before and Again and Sweet Salt Air. She has been published in twenty-eight languages worldwide. A lifelong New Englander, Delinsky earned a B.A. in psychology at Tufts University and an M.A. in sociology at Boston College. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, more books than she'll ever be able to read, two tennis racquets, and enough electronic devices to keep in close touch with her children and their families.

Hometown:

Newton, Massachusetts

Date of Birth:

August 9, 1945

Place of Birth:

Boston, Massachusetts

Education:

B.A. in Psychology, Tufts University, 1967; M.A. in Sociology, Boston College, 1969

Editorial Reviews

03/23/2020

Delinsky’s latest (after Before and Again) is a moving, intimate tale about the indelible bond between family members. The Aldiss sisters—Mallory, Anne, and Margo—reunite at their family’s Bay Bluff, R.I., beach house 20 years after their father’s role in a scandal divided them and broke up their parents’ marriage. Their father, judge Tom Aldiss, was suspected in the disappearance of neighbor Elizabeth MacKay during a late-night boat ride that was later declared an accidental drowning, though her body was never recovered. After college, Mallory settled in New York City while Anne stayed in Bay Bluff. Delinsky fast-forwards to present day, when Mallory receives an alarming call from Jack Sabathian, her first love and Elizabeth’s son, about Tom’s mental decline. Immediately upon arrival in Bay Bluff, Mallory tries to make peace with Anne, who resents Mallory’s intrusion, while resisting her still-strong attraction to Jack. Furthering the suspense, Margo divulges a secret about a love triangle that transpired before their parents married. As long-buried secrets are revealed, the sisters contend with the extreme circumstances that caused the breach in their relationships with one another. This well-crafted story, buoyed by descriptions of the weathered beach town and nicely drawn characters, will delight Delinsky’s fans. (May)

Publishers Weekly

*Instant New York Times bestseller!*

"Delinsky (Before and Again) presents a powerful story about the importance of love, family, and the acceptance of life's changes...This page-turner will be in demand by Delinsky's many fans." - Library Journal, Starred Review

"A moving, intimate tale about the indelible bond between family members." - Publishers Weekly

“A delicious beach read!” - Booklist

From the Publisher

★ 04/01/2020

Mallory Aldiss has not been back to her hometown of Bay Bluff, RI, for years; the memories are too painful. But when her childhood friend Jack, who is her dad's neighbor, calls to tell her that her father threatened him with a gun, she and her 13-year-old daughter Joy decide to visit Bay Bluff for a week. Twenty years earlier, Jack's mother disappeared while riding with Mallory's father in his boat. Now that her father has dementia, it is imperative to find out what really happened before it is too late. Was it murder, suicide, or an accident? As Mallory and her sisters sort through their good and bad memories while dealing with present-day challenges, secrets are gradually revealed, and Mallory reconnects with a former love. VERDICT Delinsky (Before and Again) presents a powerful story about the importance of love, family, and the acceptance of life's changes. Joy is a little too good to be true but adds a lot of motivation to Mallory's actions. This page-turner will be in demand by Delinsky's many fans. [See Prepub Alert, 11/11/19.]—Margaret Bentley, Shiawassee Dist. Lib., Owosso, MI

Library Journal

2020-03-02
A middle-aged woman returns to her childhood home to care for her ailing father, confronting many painful secrets from her past.

When Mallory Aldiss gets a call from a long-ago boyfriend telling her that her elderly father has been gallivanting around town with a gun in his hand, Mallory decides it’s time to return to the small Rhode Island town that she’s been avoiding for more than a decade. Mallory’s precocious 13-year-old daughter, Joy, is thrilled that she'll get to meet her grandfather at long last, and an aunt, too, and she'll finally see the place where her mother grew up. When they arrive in Bay Bluff, it’s barely a few hours before Mallory bumps into her old flame, Jack, the only man she’s ever really loved. Gone is the rebellious young person she remembers, and in his place stands a compassionate, accomplished adult. As they try to reconnect, Mallory realizes that the same obstacle that pushed them apart decades earlier is still standing in their way: Jack blames Mallory’s father for his mother’s death. No one knows exactly how Jack’s mother died, but Jack thinks a love affair between her and Mallory’s father had something to do with it. As Jack and Mallory chase down answers, Mallory also tries to repair her rocky relationships with her two sisters and determine why her father has always been so hard on her. Told entirely from Mallory’s perspective, the novel has a haunting, nostalgic quality. Despite the complex and overlapping layers to the history of Bay Bluff and its inhabitants, the book at times trudges too slowly through Mallory’s meanderings down Memory Lane. Even so, Delinsky sometimes manages to pick up the pace, and in those moments the beauty and nuance of this complicated family tale shine through. Readers who don’t mind skimming past details that do little to advance the plot may find that the juicier nuggets and realistically rendered human connections are worth the effort.

A touching family drama that effectively explores the negative impact of stress on fragile relationships.

Kirkus Reviews