The Second Home by Christina Clancy

Book Summary:

After a disastrous summer spent at her family summer home on Cape Cod, seventeen-year-old Ann Gordon was left with a secret that changed her life forever, and created a rift between her sister, Poppy, and their adopted brother, Michael.

Now, fifteen years later, her parents have died, leaving Ann and Poppy to decide the fate of the Wellfleet home that’s been in the Gordon family for generations. For Ann, the once-beloved house is tainted with bad memories. Poppy loves the old saltbox, but after years spent chasing waves around the world, she isn’t sure she knows how to stay in one place.

Just when the sisters decide to sell, Michael re-enters their lives with a legitimate claim to the house. But more than that, he wants to set the record straight about that long-ago summer. Reunited after years apart, these very different siblings must decide if they can continue to be a family—and the house just might be the glue that holds them together.

Told through the shifting perspectives of Ann, Poppy, and Michael, this assured and affecting debut captures the ache of nostalgia for summers past and the powerful draw of the places we return to again and again. It is about second homes, second families, and second chances. Tender and compassionate, incisive and heartbreaking, The Second Home is the story of a family you’ll quickly fall in love with, and won’t soon forget.

Publication Date:

June 2nd, 2019

Genre:

Family Life/Coming of Age Fiction

My Rating:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

My Review:

The Second Home

I normally try and wait to review books that have publishing dates that are 6+ months away but after I read the book summary of Christina Clancy’s debut novel I knew I had to read it right away. I am a big family of sagas that follow a family over time and The Second Home centers around the Gordon family and spans multiple decades.

Clancy’s writing style is incredibly detailed and engrossing and I felt like I could picture each of her main characters so well. They were layered and raw and while I couldn’t always relate to them (Poppy) I felt like I could understand them because of Clancy’s gifted character development.

The Cape Cod setting was perfect for this family drama that reads like a beach read but has a depth that made it so much more than that. Through the shifting perspectives of Ann, Poppy, and Michael, secrets are revealed and family bonds are tested.

The ending was particularly satisfying and I loved how the charactered connected and reconnected throughout time and the idea that family can sometimes be something you create on your own.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy.

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