Summer's Child

Resonant and beautifully written, this novel offers a lyrical meditation on healing, a setting as soft and colorful as beach glass and a story that's both suspenseful and tender. Lily Malone and her daughter, Rose, have built a happy life in Cape Hawk, Nova Scotia, despite the ever-present fear that the abusive husband Lily has fled will find them. Old memories surface as Rose becomes friends with a girl whose wary mom is hiding a similar past. When Rose's congenital heart defect forces her to undergo open-heart surgery, Lily also faces her conflicting feelings for marine biologist Liam Neill, whose unflinching support she has been too emotionally scarred to accept. Ultimately, Liam's love and Rose's recovery give her the strength to confront her longing for the past—and the loved one—she has left behind. Rice (Dance with Me ) excels at weaving the familiar staples of popular fiction into storytelling gold; her talent for portraying both children at risk and good men scarred by circumstance also dazzles. Above all, this book—one of Rice's best in recent years—depicts the magical endurance of love with the sensitivity and realism for which she's known. Agent, Andrea Cirillo at the Jane Rotrosen Literary Agency. (June)