Summer Dance

Rossiter returns to the characters from her novel Nantucket in this coming-of-age story. Sally Ryan, the proud owner of Nantucket coffee shop Cuppa Joe, is publishing a book about her life story. As readers learn, Sally had a very unremarkable childhood, living with her widowed father in Medford, Mass. Her life forever changes when she meets Drew McIntyre, gets pregnant, and marries him at a young age. Fearful of Drew and encumbered by Catholic guilt (she believes her miscarriage resulted from one of her misdeeds), Sally believes that the marriage can’t be dissolved. She travels to Nantucket, finds a place to stay, and begins working at a local coffee shop. After meeting Coop, a Vietnam vet, Sally enjoys their close friendship, which evolves into an on-again, off-again romance they try to keep secret. While the story of Sally’s life is a page-turner, it’s the manner in which she is finally able to reconcile her faith with her relationship with Coop that will resonate. (June)