Guests of August

January 15, 2020
Five families return to a New Hampshire country inn anticipating a long summer idyll. Will the simmering tensions boil over, or will the long, sunny days work their magic? Novelist Daniel Goldner, who's been coming to Mount Haven Inn since he was a boy, is seeking solace as his marriage founders. Economist Simon Epstein, his longtime friend, is there for him along with Simon's free-spirited wife and three teenagers. The Edwards family has also been coming to Mount Haven for years, keeping their family vacation inviolate. But this year, as their teenagers squabble and the marriage has lost its luster, Susan Edwards has smuggled in a golden professional opportunity to translate a much-lauded new novel from the French. She's eager to learn what the novel, which portrays a marriage on the rocks, has to say about her and her husband, Jeff. Grasping Liane Curran sees summering at the inn as a way to experience the ways of old money while her desperate husband, Michael, is hoping for an infusion of that money into his teetering startup. Patrician financier Mark Templeton and his carefully groomed, alcoholic wife, Andrea, return from California to New Hampshire every August to commemorate the loss of their son, Adam, and to offer their condolences to the widow and son he left behind. Wendy and Donny Templeton, who live not far from the inn, dutifully roll up for this mournful ritual of sternly enforced family bonding. Author Goldreich (After Melanie, 2019, etc.) litters the tale with details that read more like 1969 than 2019: A teenager wears Jean Nate perfume; a college student drives a "roadster"; women under 70 wear their hair in "lacquered helmets"; the developer of cutting-edge software has his spreadsheets on paper. Whatever the incidental details, the characters are all seeking an old-fashioned summer: antiquing, kayaking on the lake, piecing together puzzles, and turning to each other for comfort and renewal. Ambling and impossibly old-fashioned: a melodrama in which nothing much happens.

COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

March 15, 2020
The lazy days of August form the backdrop for Goldreich's (After Melanie, 2019) large-ensemble family drama. For years five families have spent the last weeks of the last summer month together at the Mount Haven Inn in New Hampshire. But this year the Ames, Currans, Edwards, Epsteins, and Templetons find that their vacations are nearly ruined by everyday stresses. Marriages and friendships are strained; sisterly bonds are tested; and old wounds resurface as new alliances are forged and adolescents discover first love. Innkeepers Louise and Evan, who inherited the inn from Evan's parents, do their best to keep guests happy and the inn's traditions intact while dealing with the realities of their fragile marriage. In the shadow of the White Mountains, the many years spent together lend a level of support that allows each family to share their burdens and to heal and enjoy the beautiful surroundings. Goldreich excels at portraying realistic marriages and the struggles within them, and readers will find themselves yearning for a stay at the Mount Haven Inn with its family-style meals, lawn games, and campfires.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)