"Rings on a tree tell a story," Franny Parker tells Lucas Dunn. "They tell you about its seasons, if they've been plentiful or not." So far, the rings of Franny's life have been marked by her family, their farm, their dusty little Oklahoma town – all of it so familiar. But in the summer of her thirteenth year, the Dunns move in next door, harboring painful secrets. From the moment Franny meets Lucas, the two begin a friendship that introduces Franny to the large world beyond her barnyard fence. As their town endures one of the harshest droughts in decades, Franny learns that those in need are not just those others you hear about in church or school; they can be injured wildlife or even the family next door. When her own family suffers a loss, Franny must find the courage to look beyond her sadness to aid a friend in need. This tender, beautifully written debut novel is the story of a summer full of promises and pain, a season that, although one of the hardest in Franny Parker's life, turns out to be plentiful.

Es ist heiß in Oklahoma, heiß und trocken. Die Tage verbringt die 13-jährige Franny mit Reiten und dem Aufpäppeln der Mäuse, Vögel und sonstigen Tiere in ihrem kleinen »Hospital«. Da ziehen neue Nachbarn ein: Lucas und Franny verstehen sich sofort.Trotzdem hat Franny schon bald das Gefühl, dass Lucas ihr nicht die ganze Wahrheit über sich erzählt. Warum wollen Mutter und Sohn partout kein Namensschild an ihrem Briefkasten? Warum ziehen die beiden ständig um und wo genau kommen sie eigentlich her? Als eines Tages ein fremder Mann auftaucht und nach den beiden fragt, wird Franny alles klar. Zu spät? Denn kurz darauf ist Lucas verschwunden.

On a secluded stretch of Cape Cod, a wedding is being planned at a beloved beach house—only for a long kept secret to emerge that hurtles both the wedding and the family off course, in this fresh, lyrical new novel from the acclaimed author of the “charming and warmhearted” (PopSugar) The Summer House. At age ninety-two, Tish Darling is the matriarch and protector of what’s left of the Darling family fortune, including the decades-old beach house, Riptide. Located on the crook of Cape Cod, it’s a place she once loved but has not returned to in decades, since a tragic family accident one perfect summer day. Still, she is determined to keep Riptide in the family. Even if that means going back there on the cusp of her granddaughter’s wedding. Even if it means revealing someone else’s truth. Her daughter-in-law Cora has her own complicated feelings surrounding Tish’s return as well as doubts about her place within the Darling family. After all, Cora came into the family carrying a secret that her husband promised to keep for her forever. Tish’s sudden return to Riptide may force everything they’ve worked so hard to protect out into the light. Meanwhile, Cora’s eldest daughter, Andi isn’t exactly looking forward to her little sister’s wedding so soon after her own divorce. To make matters worse, her ex has arrived on the Cape with his insufferable new girlfriend. Andi has no idea how she’ll be able to survive this family reunion…until she bumps into an old friend from the past. A friend who may just offer her a second chance. As the three distinct generations of Darling women arrive at Riptide, they have no idea that this summer will forever change them. One old secret, kept with the best of intentions, threatens to not only divide the family, but shatter each member’s sense of who they really are. Can the ties that bind survive, when the history you’ve always been told turns out to be untrue?

Includes reader's guide questions for discussion.

Hannah McKinnon, the acclaimed author of the “charming and warm-hearted” (PopSugar) The Summer House, returns with a fresh beach read about a group of outsiders threatening the status quo at an exclusive New England beach club. Mayhaven is the best keep secret in Massachusetts. Tucked between old cedars and a spring-fed lake, the Mayhaven beach club has long been the ultimate escape to understated exclusivity. It’s the place where Darcy Birch is supposed to be experiencing the best summer of her life, but there are a few things standing in her way. Her high-strung mother won’t stop hovering over her, her father is consumed by his job as president of Mayhaven, where she works as a summer camp counselor and things are not as rosy as they seem, and her neurodivergent little brother is struggling to live with a measure of independence not everyone is ready for. Then there is the matter of the new neighbors. Flick Creevy, his mother, and stepfather have arrived in town, parking their enormous RV, not to mention all-night music and clouds of marijuana, in the Birches’s perfectly landscaped backyard. Flick is not interested in the perfect summer or the girl next door. Pushed to get a job at Mayhaven by his mother, who has her eyes on a new life for their family, his own eyes have been opened to the ways of the upper crust. Even though Mayhaven prides itself on being an inclusive association of good New England families with good New England values, the fact remains: either you’re on the inside or the outside. As the heat of summer increases, it’s soon clear that the members of Mayhaven will have to struggle to stay cool in this sharply written and refreshing new novel that is perfect for fans of Elin Hilderbrand and Jennifer Weiner.

Over two evenings in March 1912, more than 250 women – old and young, rich and poor, strong and delicate – were arrested and charged with using hammers and stones to smash the windows of shops and offices across London. The youngest amongst them was 19-year-old teenager glass-breaker and Kent working maid, Ethel Violet Baldock, while the eldest was 79-year-old Mrs Hilda Eliza Brackenbury, owner of suffragette safe house, Mouse Castle, in Campden Hill Square. These two evenings would later become known as the Women’s Social and Political Union’s window smashing Great Militant Protest. The protest, driven by WSPU leader Emmeline Pankhurst, was against the government and their refusal to include women in their reform bill, which would give women the right to vote. Secret Missions of the Suffragettes examines these two evenings in great detail, before going on to explore 'behind the scenes' of the movement; the safe houses and rest homes used by the history-shaping women involved, together with stories of the women themselves, as well as their self defense training and use of disguises and alias names, all of which were needed to be a part of such a militant campaign. Discover their stories, motives, plans, tactics and antics as Jennifer Godfrey explores the connections, friendships and collaborations that would help change the course of history for women in Britain.