Summer Island

Before getting into this review, I feel like I need to offer a full disclosure: I am obsessed with Kristin Hannah books. I didn't think that they would be my cup of tea, but I'm so happy to have been wrong. She is quickly turning into one of my favourite authors and I will happily read anything of hers that I can get my hands on.

My Kristin Hannah journey started with The Nightingale, and The Women, The Great Alone and The Four Winds quickly followed. I assumed, therefore, that Summer Island was “historical fiction”, with it being set in the 1990s/early 2000s. However, I have since realised that it was first published in 2001, so it’s not technically a HF novel, just indicative of life at the time that Hannah wrote it.

Set on a fictional island in the very real San Juan archipelago, Summer Island explores the tumultuous relationship between Ruby and her Mum, Nora. The dual narrative is exceptional, and we truly get to see the perspective of both characters. The setting, as with most of Hannah’s books, is like another character. We see life for the mother-daughter duo when Ruby was 16 and Nora up-and-left the family without a second thought, seemingly to pursue fame and fortune. This timeline runs alongside the one depicting Ruby’s adulthood, in which she navigates tangible adult problems rooted in her childhood abandonment issues. Nora’s version of events also unfolds after she, aged 50, is embroiled in a tabloid scandal and ends up back on Summer Island with Ruby. The island acts to imprison the pair together to face their history, deciding if the hurt is worth healing.

I think that Ruby and Nora’s story struck a chord so well, because I am very close to my own mother, but only now recognise that many choices she made when I was an adolescent may not have made sense to me then, but with hindsight and empathy they do now. This book is perfect for anyone wanting to explore the nuances of family dynamics and relationships. It made me look at my own life now, as a 40-year-old Mum, as well as events that imprinted on me during those formative and teenage years. To say that Summer Island evoked feelings of reflection, would be an understatement. I may be lucky enough to have always had a close bond with my own Nora, but it doesn’t mean that I couldn’t recognise the hurt and pain, as well as the healing, in the story.

There are other significant relationships which influence Ruby and Nora to be the people we are introduced to in the “present day”, but the most meaningful one is the one between our protagonists. I would have liked to get more insight into Caroline, the sister; the power of the undercurrents and subtleties between parents and all siblings is so interesting to me, that I feel that lacking this depth might be the only downside to the book. As the baby sister, I know that I couldn’t have the relationship I have now with my parents, without my sisters. To have Caro downgraded to a minor character seemed to do a disservice to the importance of sisterly relationships in families.

Overall, Summer Island was an incredible read. I cried several times but felt hope and love throughout it too. Upon finishing, the first thing I did was recommend it in the group chat between myself and my Mum and sisters. It’s a true love letter to the bonds we all share.