Book Review: Summer of Love by Kerri Maher
Summer of Love by Kerri Maher: a spoiler-free Ladies Who Lit review of this dual-timeline novel about sisters, secrets and the richness of life.
Summer of Love by Kerri Maher
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California, 1967. Winnie Hartley has just graduated from Berkeley with a head full of poetry and a plan to make it as a writer in San Francisco, right as the city tips into its most mythologised summer. Her sister Miranda stays behind on the family vineyard, quietly determined to make a California wine that can hold its own against the French. Two sisters, one summer and a set of choices that will send them down entirely different roads.
Nearly fifty years later, Miranda's daughter Dawn is six months sober and terrified of what that admission would mean when your mother is one of the most famous vintners on the West Coast. A work assignment sends her digging into the wildly popular Vineland novels — children's books by an anonymous author, with a setting that sounds suspiciously like her own family's estate and story.
At its heart, Summer of Love is a bittersweet love song about music, literature and the relationships between women: how they flourish in community and how they can wither in the shadow of the patriarchy. It's also a story about addiction and the generational shadows it casts: the inheritance nobody puts in the will.
Maher's female characters are rich and dimensional, with a self-awareness that's deeply satisfying for anyone who’s ever read a fictional woman written without care. These three know exactly what they're choosing, even when the choice is painful or impossible. The musical references make for an even more immersive read and will be a particular pleasure for fans of 1960s American rock. And the Vineland story inside a story adds another intriguing layer, weaving the women's narratives closer together across time and space through shared experiences.
Loved these books? You’ll love Summer of Love
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One sentence to convince you to read Summer of Love
A vineyard dynasty, two sisters and one summer in 1967 that echoes through three generations: this is what happens when the family legacy and the family secrets are intertwined.
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