Summer Island: A Novel

Dean begins to unpack in his childhood bedroom and notices all the reminders of his life on the island, including framed photos of Ruby. Lottie asks Dean to bring Eric his medication since she needs to run to the store. He gives his brother his medication and the two talk. Eric fusses at Dean for making small talk and insists they talk about substantial topics. Eric tells him that he wishes he’d never told him he was gay. Eric knew their parents wouldn’t accept him, but he thought Dean would. Dean reveals that he felt abandoned when he learned Eric was gay and in a happy relationship because Ruby and him broke up and then he transferred to a boarding school to get away from her. The two apologize to each other, and Eric reveals that he wants someone in his family to love him while he’s still alive.

The narration switches to Nora. Nora realizes she needs to treat Ruby carefully and thinks about how being back in the summer house—where she wounded Ruby—is complicating things. She thinks about how she felt leaving her daughters and husband and how she’d assumed she could return to them when she was ready. She decides to call her psychiatrist. They talk about her predicament, and her psychiatrist tells her that she owes Ruby the truth. He suggests that she share one personal thing with Ruby a day, and she thinks she can do that.

The narration switches to Ruby. As she goes through the house, she realizes how little has changed, except for the fact that Caroline has swapped out all of their family photos with pictures of her children. She goes up to her parents’ old bedroom and reminisces. When she goes to put her suitcase away, she discovers all of the old photos Caroline hid. She looks through them, finding pictures of her childhood. The pictures make her sad, and she understands that Caroline couldn’t bear to look at them.

Ruby decides to begin writing her article. She writes that she hates her mother and describes her idyllic childhood. She then writes about how Nora left the summer before Ruby turned 17. When she left, Ruby’s father fell apart, leading her to have to take care of him.

Nora calls for Ruby to start cleaning the house. Despite being exhausted, Ruby starts to clean.

Nora struggles to watch Ruby clean the house poorly, and the two argue when Nora criticizes Ruby’s cleaning technique. Ruby suggests that Nora go make up her bed and start a new load of laundry. After she does these tasks, she comes downstairs and convinces Ruby to cook dinner with her. Ruby doesn’t know how to cook, but Nora gives her instructions. Ruby cuts herself and Nora tends to her, leaving both women emotional and longing for each other. Ruby feels awkward about their moment of emotional intimacy and distances herself from Nora for the rest of the dinner preparation.

Nora and Ruby sit down to eat dinner together. Nora assumes they will say grace since it’s something they did before dinner during Ruby’s childhood, but Ruby explains she stopped praying when Nora left the family. Regardless, Nora says a quick prayer before eating. They finish eating and clean the dishes.

Desperate to spend more time with Ruby, Nora suggests they build a fire. They begin talking about Nora’s decision to abandon the family, and Nora reminds Ruby that she doesn’t know everything about her. Ruby asks her to tell her something about her; Nora agrees and suggests that Ruby could then tell her something about herself.

Ruby and Nora go outside. Nora tells her daughter that when she graduated high school, she left her family and never returned. She left primarily because of her father. She regrets how she treated him, especially after she became estranged from her own children. When Ruby makes a joke about her mother’s confession, Nora quickly and harshly chastises her, leading Ruby to apologize.

Ruby tells her mother how she lost her virginity to a stranger the summer her mother abandoned her. She admits she did it to hurt her mother. However, it also ruined her relationship with Dean. Nora decides to go to sleep. She goes to her bedroom to call Eric and wish him goodnight.

The narration switches to Ruby. She goes upstairs to continue working on her article. In the article, she describes how odd and disorienting it is to be back at Summer Island. She then reveals what she learned from her mother that night and admits she wishes she didn’t—the knowledge humanized her mother and made Ruby wonder for the first time if it hurt Nora when she abandoned them.

Dean sits on the dock watching the sun rise. He watches the fishing boats leaving for the day and thinks about Ruby. He sees his family’s old sailboat, the Wind Lass, and decides that, to bring him closer to Eric, he should restore it. The narration switches to Ruby. She wakes up and smells Nora cooking breakfast. Ruby goes downstairs. After making small talk with her mother, she begins to argue with her. Nora accuses Ruby of thinking she knows everything and hurting people. Ruby tries to argue that she loved her former boyfriend, and Nora counters that he left her regardless.

The two decide to go grocery shopping. The nuns of the Benevolent Order of the Sisters of St. Francis run the only grocery store on the island. As Ruby and Nora make their way into the store, Sister Helen, an older nun, greets them and remarks on how long it’s been since she’s seen them last. Ruby and Nora begin shopping and argue over what to get. Nora wants exclusively healthy food, while Ruby wants to buy junk food. Annoyed by her mother, Ruby leaves the store and grabs a copy of USA Today, seeing that the headline is about Nora. She hides the newspaper from Nora, then helps her load the groceries into the car.

When they return to the summer house, Ruby goes onto the beach to read the newspaper. The article discusses the scandal and emphasizes how many people find Nora’s advice hypocritical in light of her affair. Ruby realizes how her mother is being treated by the media and knows her article will make it worse.

Ruby returns to her bedroom and continues working on her article. She writes about how her mother is being attacked by the press and how she is beginning to feel bad about writing the article. She is interrupted by Nora, who calls her to come down to make dinner. As she goes to put her notepad away, she sees an old prescription bottle of Nora’s for Valium from 1985. The medication was prescribed by Nora’s psychiatrist. 

Ruby is surprised that her mother’s prescription is from 1985, since she assumed their life had been perfect during that period. She wishes she had never found the bottle and goes downstairs to help Nora cook dinner. After they prepare a casserole and put it in the oven, Nora asks Ruby to help her set up the movie projector so they can watch old family movies. Ruby doesn’t want to watch the movies but is curious.

As they watch the movies, Ruby begins remembering the happy parts of her childhood. Ruby admits to her mother that she’d forgotten her, but that she was beginning to remember. She remembers a locket that Nora gave her and says that she threw it away because it hurt too much to constantly be reminded of Nora. The timer goes off on dinner, and they go to eat.

The narration switches to Nora. The next morning, she is upset at Ruby’s admission that she forgot her. To figure out what to do, she pretends that a reader has written to her for advice on the situation. She realizes that she would have berated the woman for her unforgivable actions, which reminds her of how much of a hypocrite she is. Then she realizes that she needs to force Ruby to remember her.

Ruby comes outside to sit with her, and the two reminisce on past Fourth of July parties and how they would write words in the sky with sparklers. Ruby asks about Eric, and Nora reveals that he is dying of cancer. Ruby asks if they can visit Eric, and Nora says they can. Ruby tells her mother that she knows she’s trying to make her remember her childhood. Nora acquiesces, saying that it’s important to remember, even if it’s painful.

Their conversation is interrupted by a phone call from Nora’s personal assistant. The newspaper wants Nora to respond to some of the hate mail she’s received. Her personal assistant plans to send the letters to Nora, alongside some of her best columns that she could sneak in for reprint.

Nora tells Ruby what’s going on and says that she imagines the media is tearing her apart. Ruby runs upstairs to fetch the newspaper she bought at the grocery store and suggests Nora read it. Nora looks at it quickly and then says that her career is over because she’s no longer famous, but infamous.

Ruby and Nora talk about how Nora writes about the sanctity of marriage but failed at her own marriage. Ruby assumed that her mother was proud of leaving them, but Nora quickly says she wasn’t. Nora explains that she doesn’t have the willpower to fight for her reputation, and Ruby says she didn’t think of her mother as a quitter. Nora quickly tells her that she should have.