The Beach at Summerly transports you to Winthrop Island in 1946 when Americans were returning home after WWII and the fear of Soviet spies in the US was on the rise. Our protagonist Emilia, aka Cricket, works for the wealthy Peabody family and for this particular summer, is hired to babysit the kids of a new guest and Mrs. Peadbody’s sister, Olive Rainsford. However, when an FBI agent confronts Emilia telling her there is a spy on the island, she has no choice to help them out, even when it involves those closet to her.

This historical fiction read has a little something for everyone as it mixes spies, war, love, family drama and mystery. I will say the beginning is a bit confusing with characters introduced quickly and not a lot of time spent building the setting/plot. However, definitely stick with the story as with time, the connection between the dual timelines become clearer along with the diverse cast of side characters. The last 20% was my absolute favorite part as I loved how the story played out, particularly in the “present” timeline.

Read if you like:
-Cold War time period
-Coastal New England setting
-Dual timelines: 1945/1956
-Surprises and twists

Thank you William Morrow for the ARC! Pub Date 6/27

Although this book started off a little slow, it picked up quickly and was a good historical summer read. Cricket is an interesting well developed character, whose father is the caretaker for Summerly. Cricket is hired as a babysitter for the glamorous renter of the guest cottage at Summerly. Olive, the renter, encourages Cricket to leave the island and live beyond the confines of the small island. But things get weird when an FBI agent arrives on the island, claiming he is looking for someone transmitting messages to the Soviet Union, and enlisting Cricket's help. It took a little bit for me to get into this book and to keep all the characters straight, but once I did, it turned out to be an intriguing read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy .

I really enjoyed this book by Beatriz Williams! I love historical fiction, but I feel certain eras/time periods get overly done. To see a dual timeline story set during the Cold War period was a good change! Williams does a nice job alternating between 1946 and 1956, so readers are able to keep pace with the character and plot developments. This book will be perfect for summer time as there is just enough intrigue and just enough romance to read this by the pool OR on the beach.

A great summer read for historical fiction fans. Cold War intrigue abounds along side a beautiful New England coastal setting.

This story takes place on two timelines - one in the summer of 1946 and one in 1954, both featuring Emilia Winthrop, sometimes called Cricket, the daughter of the caretaker of Summerly. Summerly is one of many expensive estates on Winthrop Island, where wealthy residents of Boston come for the summer. Emilia, her parents, and her sister Susana are year-rounders, and even though they're descended from the founders of Winthrop Island, they're considered lower class townies. In 1946, Emilia is 21 and she's excited for the return of the sons of Summerly who have been off at war. She lost her own brother, and she welcomes these friends from her childhood with open arms, getting involved in some romantic entanglements along the way. At the same time, she begins working for their aunt Olive, who is staying in their guesthouse for the summer with her three young children. Olive is smart, well-traveled, and she takes a liking to Emilia and becomes somewhat of a mentor. We know from the 1954 storyline (the narrative alternate between the two) that Olive was actually a Soviet spy, and that Emilia was instrumental in getting her caught and arrested. It's interesting to know the end of the story but to still see it unfold in ways that are surprising. I liked Williams' writing style and thought the characterization of Emilia was very strong. It made me want to look at Williams' back catalog and see what else sounds interesting.

In the mid 50s, Emilia Winthrop is summoned by the FBI/CIA to meet with the woman she put in jail for espionage years ago. Though she resists the summons, Emilia must confront what happened on the Beach at Summerly on Winthrop Island all those years ago.

The book, while not one of Williams' best, is still one I tore through at lightening speed. I really loved Emilia and Olive. Both are strong characters , though strong in different ways. It feels a bit like in giving her all to these two characters, the others were slightly under developed. Shep was almost there but he still fell a little flat against the two characters of Em and Olive.

Williams is the MASTER of building out her fictional world. Bringing back Sumner Fox from Our Woman in Moscow and dropping tidbits from The Summer Wives really brought me back into her world. Long story short, Beatriz Williams cannot write books fast enough for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read this title!

I loved this post-WWII, Cold War era novel. Sometimes the transitions felt a little off between paragraphs/plot but I think that might have been due to the formatting of the pre-pub e-book. We are back at Winthrop Island (from The Summer Wives) and there are a few new people around that are stirring up local gossip. At the center of the story is Cricket and her long time best friend Shep. A mixed story of classism, spies, war, and love, this has a little something for everyone.

The Beach at Summerly takes the reader back to 1946, at the very start of the Cold War, picking up where Our Woman in Moscow ended. Emilia Winthrop is a resident of Winthrop Island, a year-rounder who lives for the summer season and the return of her upper class friends. Post-war, they're all grown up and trying to figure out where their lives are going and when Emilia gets drawn into the drama of a possible spy ring their lives all change forever. Full of Williams's wit and snappy dialogue, as always these are characters you will come to love.

Beatriz Williams is up there with Danielle Steel and Nora Roberts for the formulaic nature of her stories. This is no exception. A weak outing in comparison to earlier works.

Thank you to Net Galley for providing an early copy of The Beach at Summerly by Beatriz Williams

Fans of earlier works by Beatriz Williams will be familiar with the East Coast island setting and with her spy genre. In The Beaches at Summerly, Williams intertwines both in a novel featuring a young woman coming of age and making very tough decisions.

Emilia "Cricket" Winthrop has grown up on Winthrop Island, not as a favored descendant of the founders of the island but now as the daughter of the Peabody estate manager. When a relative of the Peabody's, Olive Rainsford, comes to occupy a guest cottage on the Peabody estate with her three children, Emilia's world is turned upside down in a web of international importance.

The story crosses several time periods in Emilia's life, and for many readers this may become confusing and a point of disconnect. Williams at times just gets into the details in a particular scene when the chapter ends and the author reverts to something in Emilia's earlier life.

The character of Olive Rainsford lacks the development of a solid antagonist whose motivations become clear over time. The use of real-life CIA director Allen Dulles seems somewhat over-the-top for the case Emilia is involved in. Emilia is gifted with abilities such as knowing Morse code, and utilizing a particular type of camera that seem beyond the realm of such a young woman raised on Winthrop Island.

Beatriz Williams shines in the physical descriptions of the surroundings on Winthrop Island and the attachment the main characters feel for their unique upbringing.

A phenomenal historical beach read! I really got sucked into it and could not put it down! I highly enjoyed this historical fiction and will be hoping to place it front and center at my branch.

Another great read from Williams! Is there a similar story arc to be expected from her stories? Yes. Is it always great? Yes! I love her characters, I love how she depicts them and I love how the people grow and intermingle through her books. If you like one of hers, any one of hers, check out the rest and don’t leave this one out!

The Beach at Summerly is a satisfying read filled with breadcrumbs to keep the audience fully engaged. It is a story of spies and first loves and family-- and reminds me of the big novels I sank my whole day into when I was a teenager. Set on the Peabody New England estate between in the 1940s and 1950s, the novel tells the story of Emilia Winthrop who lives with her family in the caretakers cottage. Emilia has grown up with the Peabody boys who have now enlisted and returned from the war. Recommended for long, lovely weekends of reading.

Another win for Beatriz Williams. The Beach at Summerly is the perfect summer (or dead of winter) read, light, heartfelt, and filled with intrigue. Recommended for fans of historical fiction, light romance, beach reads, and cozy reads.

Emilia (Cricket) Winthrop grew up on Winthrop Island. Her family once owned the island but now they work for the Peabody’s who own the big house, Summerly. The Peabody and Winthrop children grew up together playing in the sand, surf and and were best friends. Now it is 1946, WWII has ended and Winthrop Island is trying to get back to normal after the loss of so many during the war.

When Olive Rainsford comes with her children that summer to stay in the guest house of the Peabody estate, she takes Cricket under her wing. Olive is related to the Peabodys and she convinces Cricket that there is more to life than living with her family on Winthrop Island. Olive is a free spirit and rumors begin to circulate about her and her past. Emilia is taken with Olive because while she was caring for her invalid mother on Winthrop Island, Olive was traveling around the world, marrying interesting men and getting involved in political causes.

The story shifts to 1954 where Emilia’s has rebuilt her life as a professor at Wellesley, but she is damaged. When she receives word that Summerly will be reopened after being boarded up for many years and then another shocking event occurs, the reader is pulled into the story of what happened that fateful summer of 1946 on Winthrop island that changed everything for the Peabody and Winthrop families.

The author did a greatjob with the sense of place. I could almost smell the salt water, imagine the children swimming, sailing and causing mischief on the island. I was sometimes confused with the timeline but once I got into the story, I was able to keep things straight.

The Beach at Summerly has a little bit for everyone, family secrets, romance, espionage and a gorgeous setting. I enjoyed it.

Thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for the Advanced Reading copy.

Taking place in both 1946 and 1954, this novel revolves around Emilia, a young woman living in Winthrop Island and her relationship with the summer people. There is romance, but also an intriguing, glamorous woman, Olive who befriends Emelia and becomes a sort of mentor to her. The idyllic summer is destroyed when the war and accusations of espionage tear her world apart. In 1954, Emilia has moved to Boston where she is a professor at Wellesley College and focusing on life there. A demand for her help from the CIA focuses again on the events of that summer and its implications. While in many ways a light, interesting read it also is quite fascinating with the storyline of wartime espionage and the Cole War aftermath. Williams once again has written an interesting story.

Thanks to William Morrow, NetGalley, and Beatriz Williams for this digital ARC.

As a long-time Beatriz Williams reader, I was eager to dive into this story. Winthrop Island was once Emilia Winthrop's home. But tragedy struck in 1946, and she left to find life elsewhere. Eight years later, she is drawn back into the world of the home she thought she left for good. A luscious journey with a dash of Cold War sprinkled in - a great read from Beatriz Williams.

It's summer, and all the families(many having lost sons) have once again returned to Winthrop Island after being gone during WWII. This year someone new has arrived, Olive Rainsford, sister of Mrs. Peabody is staying in the guest house at Summerly. Emilia is instantly taken by Olive and her kids. Olive has traveled all over Europe and is so worldly compared to Emilia who has lived on this small island all her life. However, there is a Russian spy on the island, and somehow Emilia is the one who must find the spy and turn them in.

I love a Beatriz Williams novel, with her band of rotating characters and locations. This one was unique in that both time periods, 1946 and 1954, had the same main character.

It felt like I had started this book in the middle. As if I had fallen asleep at the beginning of the movie and woke up able to keep up with the storyline but aware there was back story that I had missed.
The Cricket that we first meet is spiky, hard and possibly an alcoholic and very different to the Cricket of the past. All good so far but I never felt that the author addresses either personality fully. The storylines are there but I couldn’t engage with it. There was too many undercurrents in both timelines that weren’t explored or explained and it left me feeling a little removed. The book ambled along for so many pages and then raced the event that had caused all the troubles for the present Cricket. Maybe if there had been a few more past timelines to solidify the main characters relationships instead of using dialogue to reminisce, it may have worked better for me.
The island was written so well, it was the real star of the book for me.
Thanks Netgalley for the ARC. This would be 3.5 stars if I could give half a point!