A Certain Summer
For those wealthy yet modest residents who summer on Wauregan Island, their tranquil, temperate days spent barefoot and relaxed are enough to make them forget the long years of WWII, from which they have finally emerged. But, for Helen, this summer, 1948, is the final one before the government changes her husband’s status from missing in action to legally dead. After a traumatized veteran, Peter, and his dog, also a veteran, move into the cottage across from Helen and her son, Jack, Helen finds herself finally able to go in search of answers about her husband. Beard’s debut novel contrasts the apparent tranquility of the beach setting with a troubling exploration of PTSD and other effects of war on the human spirit. The writing is occasionally overly earnest in tone, but the deepening relationship between Peter and Helen is portrayed subtly and convincingly. An engaging postwar melodrama. --Courtney Jones