So, this is what it all comes down to-a tying up of much-dangled loose ends. Fowler presents the family members in great detail less so in the case of the perfunctory C.J., though he too will reach a happy resolution. Backstories indeed fill many pages in this exposition-heavy, distinctly soapy story, which devotes most of its attention to elaborating the problems set up to be unraveled. Reynolds, a figure from her past who has his own problematic backstory.

She’s recently spent an amazing night with C.J. Marti kept secrets, too, and Beck has lied to Paul, both for financial and sexual reasons. Paul, meanwhile, has a secret-he yearns for Claire, and Claire (unbeknownst to Paul) yearns back.

Doing so would also liberate her from her kind but sexless marriage. Beck, a journalist married to book editor Paul, wants to keep the house as a place in which to write the novel she’s longed to complete. Claire, a doctor whose marriage has failed, could use the cash, too, but welcomes the distraction from unrequited love that the house brings. Sophie, who works in Manhattan’s art world but whose life has suddenly upended, needs the money the sale would bring. Sisters Beck, Claire, and Sophie Geller, with their contrasting careers and lifestyles, must come together after the loss of their mother, Marti, whose will requires them to sell the beloved summer cottage they have inherited, a remote house on Mount Desert Island. The title is something of a giveaway in Fowler’s latest, a story of problems endured over many years, sometimes at significant personal cost, but, once aired and shared, reaching self-evident solutions. Love, lies, and long-buried secrets surface as a favored family summer home in Maine is put up for sale.

Books by therese anne fowler