Family Reunion: A Novel

Written by Nancy Thayer

Narrated by Tanya Eby and Whitney Dykhouse

A longtime Nantucket resident is trying to make the best of a lonely summer. Her spirited granddaughter is learning what she wants out of life. Unforgettable surprises await them both in this magical, multigenerational novel from New York Times bestselling author Nancy Thayer.

“Readers come to Nancy Thayer novels for the idyllic Nantucket beaches and lifestyle, but they stay for the characters.”—New York Times bestselling author Mary Alice Monroe

Eleanor Sunderland loves living on Nantucket, in a gorgeous cliffside home that has been in her family for decades. Yet this year she can’t help but feel a bit isolated, even as the island begins to come alive with summer tourists and travelers. Her best friend has skipped town on a last-minute cruise, leaving Eleanor feeling lonely and nostalgic about her family’s weekend trips to the island, made less frequently in the years since her husband’s passing. Now, her money-driven children contact her mostly to complain and to beg her to sell her beloved home for a steep payout. Hoping to kick the season off on a good note, Eleanor decides her seventieth birthday may be the perfect occasion for a much-needed reunion.

Fresh off the heels of her college graduation, Eleanor’s dear granddaughter, Ari, has just ended an engagement that felt less like true love and more like a chore. She longs for a change of scenery and to venture far from her parents’ snobbish expectations. Taking advantage of her newfound freedom, she heads to Nantucket to clear her head before graduate school, moving in with her grandmother and taking a job at the local beach camp. As she watches Eleanor begin to form a bond with an old acquaintance, Ari herself becomes completely smitten with a friend’s charming older brother. But just as grandmother and granddaughter fall into a carefree routine, a few shocking discoveries throw them off course, and their ideas of the future seem suddenly uncertain.

Eleanor and Ari make exciting connections, old and new, over the course of an unpredictable, life-changing few months, and learn to lean on each other through every new challenge they face in life and love, in this tale filled with Nancy Thayer’s signature Nantucket magic.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: May 4, 2021
• ISBN: 9781978617230

Nancy Thayer

Nancy Thayer is the New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty novels, including Girls of Summer, Let It Snow, Surfside Sisters, A Nantucket Wedding, Secrets in Summer, The Island House, The Guest Cottage, An Island Christmas, Nantucket Sisters, and Island Girls. Born in Kansas, Thayer has been a resident of Nantucket for thirty-five years, where she currently lives with her husband, Charley, and a precocious rescue cat named Callie.

Reviews for Family Reunion

[Helga Skjelbreia · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The story wasn’t all that interesting. I’ve read a few of her other books and they were better.

[bookconcierge · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Thayer specializes in family dramas set on Nantucket. As per usual there is at least one troubled marriage, a grandchild that relates more to grandma than to parents, a possible new romance (or two), and at least one pet too cute for words. And in this case, there is also a major decision regarding whether to keep the home that’s been in the family for generations or sell out to developers willing to pay millions of dollars for prime ocean-front land. Eleanor Sunderland is a widow who loves living in her family’s large home. She cherishes the memories of coming there when she was a child, and of bringing her children to the island when they were younger. She’s now one of the year-round residents and though the house is large and drafty and needs maintenance it is HER family home. Her adult children, though, think she should sell and move to a retirement community near them in the city. Eleanor decides to invite her family to the island to help her celebrate her seventieth birthday. It will be a family reunion like they had in the old days! Well, not exactly … The majority of the drama comes from Eleanor’s daughter, Alicia, who is married to a surgeon and lives in Boston, and Eleanor’s only grandchild, Ari, who has just graduated from college and broken off her engagement to the scion of a wealthy family. Alicia is one of the most spoiled and self-centered characters I’ve come across in all my years of reading. Hard to believe that a woman like Eleanor could have raised a woman who is so shallow and money-grubbing. No wonder Ari wants to spend the entire summer with her grandmother! Eleanor’s wonderful son and confirmed bachelor, Cliff, makes several appearances, though his contributions to the story are minimal. And the subplot involving a day camp for disadvantaged kids adds a nice touch (and a respite from Alicia’s self-made drama). As is true of the other works by Thayer I’ve read, this was a quick read full of mostly likeable characters in recognizable situations. Perfect choice for a vacation read.

[nyiper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fast, fun read....good characters. Nice that an epilogue was included.