Lake Life by David James Poissant

The Starling family is gathering for one last weekend on Lake Christopher in North Carolina before their vacation home of more than thirty years is sold. The group includes Cornell college professors Richard and Lisa, their two sons Michael and Thad and their respective partners, Diane and Jake. However, a tragic accident on their first day causes tensions and secrets to come to the surface. A poignant, sometimes uncomfortable, yet lingering exploration of family and relationships, perfect for readers of Stewart O'Nan, J. Ryan Stradal, and Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane.

The Yield by Tara June Winch

August Gondiwindi comes home to Australia from England after her grandfather, Albert, passes away. Her Aboriginal family has lived along the Murrumby River in rural New South Wales for many generations. Even though she's been gone for ten years, August finds not much has changed, except that a mining company has taken over a lot of the local land which is forcing August's grandmother, Elsie to move. The Yield recounts August's memories of growing up and the trauma of her sister, Jedda, going missing when they were young--never to be seen again. In addition, the story of Albert's life is told through the use of a dictionary, in which he was compiling words in the native Wiradjuri language. A third point of view in the novel is from German Reverend Ferdinand Greenleaf who lived in the area for over thirty years, beginning at the end of the 19th century. A novel of injustice and brutality that reminds us again of the wrongs that white Australia has perpetuated on its native people.

Fast Girls: a Novel of the 1936 Women's Olympic Team by Elise Hooper

Fast Girls traces the lives of three female track and field Olympians in the 1920's and 30's. There's Chicagoan Betty Robinson, country girl Helen Stephens, and Louise Stokes, an African-American from Ohio. Filled with lots of personal details about their everyday lives, as well as the politics and social realities surrounding three Olympic games during a volatile period in world history, the novel is an engrossing read which makes the reader want to delve more into the lives of these three women (but don't start researching until you've finished the book).

The Distant Dead by Heather Young

Who would have wanted middle school teacher Adam Merkel dead? Not having completed even one school year in the small Nevada town of Lovelock, Adam wasn't well known by anyone. He had taken student Sal under his wing, and Sal was the one to alert the authorities to the murder scene. In addition, fellow teacher Nora Wheaton had gotten to know Adam a bit, and now feels compelled to help discover his killer. In The Distant Dead, the reader follows both Sal and Nora in the time before Adam's death and after in this dark leisurely-paced yet compelling novel that is reminiscent of the writing of Lou Berney.

28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand

When Mallory Blessing meets her brother Cooper's college friend, Jake McCloud, she's a"complete goner." Mallory lives on Nantucket in an oceanfront cottage she inherited from her Aunt Greta. Jake is visiting with Cooper over Labor Day weekend in 1993, and when Mallory and Jake find themselves alone for the weekend, they become romantically involved. However, it turns out that Labor Day weekend is the only time they will spend together annually for almost thirty years, despite their deep bond. Jake lives in Washington D.C. and has had an on-again, off-again girlfriend--driven lawyer Ursula de Gournsey--while Mallory loves island life and can't imagine ever leaving Nantucket. 28 Summers recounts Mallory's and Jake's lives over all those years. Author Hilderbrand is in fine form. A great beach read that I had a hard time putting down.