"Maine" by J. Courtney Sullivan is the absorbing story of a dysfunctional Boston family who spend their summers at a beach house estate in Maine. Told from four points of view, the story develops like a well-cooked stew from chapters hosted by elderly matriarch Annie, who is trying unsuccessfully to atone for a tragic secret; her daughter Kathleen, who has been estranged from the family for years and is trying to make a go of a worm farm in California; Maggie, Annie's granddaughter and Kathleen's daughter, an aspiring writer who discovers she's pregnant just when her boyfriend chooses to dump her, and Anna Marie, Annie's daughter-in-law, the seemingly perfect wife who tries to make up in a miniature dollhouse her failings as a mother and wife. All of the women come together at the beach house for one summer of bared grievances, acknowledgements, and realizations of the dream lives they each lost. Written in a style highly reminiscent of the great Pat Conroy, "Maine" is the ultimate end of summer beach read: we've all known characters like this family portrays.
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