Publisher's Synopsis
First love is delicious, confounding, and terrifying all at once. It happens once in a lifetime and is never forgotten. For Andy and Laura, it happened in a secluded Maine town in 1968.Andy, the son of the town's wealthiest merchant, is a loner, adrift with no direction of his own. His life is dominated by his Mother who sees Andy's success as confirmation of her social status within the microcosm of Litchfield Falls.Laura moves to Litchfield Falls when her alcoholic father takes a job as a truck driver. She lives in a Victorian fantasy world spun by her mother Gwen to escape their nomadic life of poverty. During the summer, set amidst the social turmoil of 1968, the fledgling couple dream of what their lives will become. Andy learns about honor, manhood, and women from the men in town. He daydreams of breaking away from the stifling course charted by his mother. Laura's mother becomes progressively ill over the summer leaving Laura emotionally adrift. She is befriended by an infirmed elderly woman who inspires Laura to forsake her fantasy world and to lead a life of adventure.Their romance is cut short when Andy's mother arranges for his early return to Caufield Military Academy, hundreds of miles away. Shortly after Andy leaves, Laura is beset by tragedies that upend her life and changes the very nature of who she is.The end of summer brings separation, loss, death, and sanctuary. Fifty years later happenstance brings the star-cross couple together again to learn what fate has dealt them.
