Summer of Love - by Kerri Maher (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

In this moving novel about the transformative power of storytelling, three women make life-changing decisions set in motion by the 1967 Summer of Love in San Francisco, shaping the legacy of their family's Napa Valley winery forever, from the USA Today bestselling author of The Paris Bookseller.

It's the summer of 1967 and the counterculture revolution is in full swing in San Francisco. Every street is alive with the music of Jim Morrison and Dionne Warwick, and in view of the Golden Gate bridge young people come together, waving anti-war signs and shouting for equal rights. No one is more into the messages of love and peace than Winnie Hartley who has just graduated from UC Berkeley determined to use poetry to capture the ever-shifting world around her. When she reconnects with her high school boyfriend, an aspiring musician, their creative bond further fuels her work, and it feels like her life is finally taking off.

Meanwhile, miles up the winding coast, her sister Miranda stays close to home, throwing herself into running the family business, Hartley Vineyard. She's determined to make California wine that rivals French. But change is in the air this wild and heady summer, and each sister will make choices that set their lives hurdling down paths neither would have imagined.

Fifty years later, Dawn Hartley stays as far as possible from her family's famous vineyard, until a work assignment requires her to research the bestselling Vineland novels penned by a famously anonymous author. Determined to discover the identity of this mysterious writer--who seems to know things no one should about her family--Dawn embarks on a soul-searching journey along the windswept coast of California to uncover her family's secrets even as she's keeping a big one of her own.

Review Quotes

"A gorgeous golden ode to California history, from the sun-drenched Napa wineries to the hippy-jammed concerts of San Francisco at the height of the sixties. ... A delightful intergenerational tale."--Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Briar Club

"Beautfiul... An uplifting novel that celebrates the importance of storytelling in recovery."--Laura McKowen, bestselling author of We Are the Luckiest

"An immersive page-turner that offers a complex braid of love, addiction, and the challenges of relationships between sisters and mothers, set against an authentic California and peopled with the real humans of that world. More than a tale of family, Summer of Love delves into the complex nature of secrets and addiction, the hope of recovery, and the power of storytelling to set us free. I genuinely loved this novel."--Barbara O'Neal, USA Today bestselling author of When We Believed in Mermaids and The Last Letter of Rachel Ellsworth

"A provocative, deeply moving novel about California and the fierce aching rush of the American dream. With nuance and bold insight, Maher maps how family secrets can course for years like fire underground, and how a life can turn on one stunning loss or the singular grace of desire."--Dawn Tripp, nationally bestselling author of Jackie

"This special novel about sisters & secrets, wine & words, and addiction & absolution captivates with its stories of three women, tied together by blood and love, and the challenges they face. This dual timeline narrative deftly transports the reader to the sunny California landscapes of yesterday and today and delivers a wallop of a story that keeps the pages turning late into the night."--Susie Orman Schnall, bestselling author of Anna Bright Is Hiding Something and We Came Here to Shine

Praise for the novels of Kerri Maher

"[A] powerful, thought-provoking novel... not only important and timely, but deeply humanizing."--Good Morning America

"Powerful. Dramatic. Insightful.... It's not only a timely novel, but storytelling at its finest - a must-read."--NPR

"Remarkable."--The Washington Post

About the Author

Kerri Maher is the USA Today bestselling author of Summer of Love, All You Have to Do Is Call, The Paris Bookseller, The Girl in White Gloves, The Kennedy Debutante, and, under the name Kerri Majors, This Is Not a Writing Manual: Notes for the Young Writer in the Real World. She holds an MFA from Columbia University and lives with her daughter and dog in a leafy suburb west of Boston, Massachusetts. She was born and raised in California.