Erika Montgomery, in her debut novel A Summer to Remember, does a superlative job binding multiple points of view and dual timelines, the present and the 1980s. Frankie and her mother, Maeve, run a Hollywood memorabilia shop. Maeve never told Frankie much about Maeve’s past or who Frankie’s father might be. After her mother’s death, Frankie begins looking for answers as to who her father is. When she finds two letters that her mother left for a famous actor and his son, she goes to Cape Cod to deliver the letters and finds her life unexpectedly intertwined with several others. This is an excellent book, bringing together these multiple threads. Some people are running from the truth while others, like Frankie, are looking for the truth. Secrets—and past betrayals—are revealed, and the answers to all questions are unexpected.
A Summer to Remember evokes both the Golden Age of Hollywood and modern day Cape Cod. There is nostalgia for the glamour of Hollywood, and I enjoyed the movie references and quotes at the beginning of each chapter. It takes the tropes of looking for oneself and looking for one’s parents and puts a nice spin on them.
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