Seaside Library Hours

The Seaside Library

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Bookstore on the Beach There are secrets that bring friends together, and others that drive them apart… Mariners Island is barely ten miles long, but when Ivy, Ariana and Cam were teenagers, it was their whole world. Beyond the pristine beaches and iconic lighthouse lies the beautiful old library that belongs to Ivy’s family. While that bound Ivy to the island as an adult, Ariana could not leave Mariners behind fast enough. The town holds too many…memories. Not only her unrequited feelings for Cam, but the tragedy that left a scar on the community. When a young girl went missing, a teenage Cam was unthinkably the prime suspect. Ariana and Ivy knew he couldn’t have hurt anyone, and they promised to protect him—even if it meant lying on his behalf. Now, twenty years later, Ariana returns to Mariners just as new evidence emerges on the case, calling into question everything the three friends thought they knew—and everyone they thought they could trust. What really happened that night? Over the course of one eventful summer, Ariana, Ivy and Cam will learn the truth—about their pasts, their futures and the ties that still bind them as closely as the pages of a book… Don't miss these other great summer beach reads from Brenda Novak One Perfect Summer The Bookstore on the Beach Summer on the Island

Books for Idle Hours

"A fascinating study" of the nineteenth-century roots of beach books and summer reads—and the public disapproval that failed to stop the enjoyment of them ( New England Quarterly). The publishing phenomenon of summer reading, often focused on novels set in vacation destinations, started in the nineteenth century, as both print culture and tourist culture expanded in the United States. As an emerging middle class increasingly embraced summer leisure as a marker of social status, book publishers sought new market opportunities, authors discovered a growing readership, and more readers indulged in lighter fare. Drawing on publishing records, book reviews, readers' diaries, and popular novels of the period, Donna Harrington-Lueker explores the beginning of summer reading and the backlash against it. Countering fears about the dangers of leisurely reading—especially for young women—publishers framed summer reading not as a disreputable habit but a respectable pastime and welcome respite. Books for Idle Hours sheds new sunlight on an ongoing seasonal tradition. " Books for Idle Hours is especially interesting on the emergence of a new type of textual diversion: the American summer novel . . . it takes these books—and the culture that shaped them, and the culture they shaped—seriously, even while acknowledging how transitory they were." — The New Yorker "A fascinating study of a distinct but largely overlooked body of nineteenth-century American fiction and the authors, readers, publishers, and economic and social conditions that gave rise to it." — New England Quarterly "Incisive commentary on the relationship between market forces and readers' tastes . . . As enjoyable as it is informative." — Reception

The Census of Massachusetts: 1885