WILLIAMS, BEATRIZ ~ BEACH AT SUMMERLY, THE

 

This review is my own opinion and NOT affiliated with any other literary entity

CHALLENGE COMPLETED :

READ A NOVEL ABOUT INVOLVING

A DISPARITY IN WEALTH AND PRIVILEGE

For a smart girl Emilia Winthrop is ignorant of many things on her home of Winthrop Island. The fact that someone close to her is a Soviet spy doesn't sink in even after two FBI agents engage her to gather intelligence. Emilia is a lifelong islander, a Winthrop of the family for whom the island was named, the cache and wealth long gone. Emilia's father is the caretaker to a wealthy family, the Peabody's, who summer on the island. Emilia and Nathaniel "Shep" Peabody are lifelong friends who reconcile at the end of World War II, but love and friendship are tested when Amelia aids the FBI and a member of the Peabody family is exposed as a traitor.

Beatriz Williams treads familiar territory, pun intended - (Winthrop Island being the locale of her novel The Summer Wives) and brings back a character from her last novel (Our Woman In Moscow.) I found the novel interesting, though the time shifts sometimes could be confusing. I liked the juxtaposition of the classic Haves and Have Nots story (rich versus poor), with Williams' spin (Communist zealousy versus free political thought.)  At the heart of the novel is a love story that is resolved not quite in a neat and tidy fashion, but nonetheless ends just as it should. Emilia is not always a sympathetic character, but that just makes her all the more real. Readers will see her grow, get tough, and shed her ignorance. With love, freedom, and a new sense of self Emilia is a have after all.