Books to Transport You to Summer in Cape Cod

It’s one way to warm up this winter

Photo by Amels on Unsplash

It’s the depths of winter right now, and I don’t know about you, but I’d love to be transported to summer on Cape Cod right now. It’s certainly a place that’s rich in atmosphere and the kind of sensory experience that’s ideal for setting the scene in a novel — not least because along with Cape Cod comes another staple of fiction: the family vacation where, after some time of more-or-less forced proximity, secrets come out.

We Were Liars, by E Lockhart (2018)

This YA novel published a few years ago has re-emerged on the bestseller lists, thanks to being a favourite on the book side of TikTok. It’s the story of a group of teenagers on an annual family trip to a private island just off Cape Cod. Something happened during their fifteenth summer on the island, and we piece it together along with Cadence, who has lost her memory of it. The writing is beautiful and engaging, and the scene setting is very atmospheric. Publishers Weekly was one of many outlets awarding the novel a coveted starred review, sayingL “Lockhart has created a mystery with an ending most readers won’t see coming, one so horrific it will prompt some to return immediately to page one to figure out how they missed it. At the center of it is a girl who learns the hardest way of all what family means, and what it means to lose the one that really mattered to you.”

The Last Book Party, by Karen Dukess (2019)

It’s the 1980s, and twenty-five-year-old Eve Rosen wants to be a writer. And every writer worth their salt is invited to Henry and Tillie’s party on Cape Cod at the end of the summer. Eve is determined she’ll be there — but once she makes it, she finds she doesn’t really fit. She has some choices to make. Taylor Jenkins Reid loves the book, saying: “The Last Book Party is a delight. I found myself nodding along in so many moments and…