Digital audiobook performed by Stephanie Roberts.

Do we ever really know our parents? Would we still love them if we did? Could we forgive them their mistakes?

The novel opens with Ginny Young on a plane, flying cross-country to see her mother, whom she hasn’t seen in thirty-five years. She thinks back to 1958, when she and her sister, Sharla, were young girls, and a new “exotic” neighbor moved in and opened their eyes to glamorous possibilities. But it was also the summer their family fell apart.

The novel moves back and forth in time as Ginny recalls her childhood and how she felt about the events of that summer, and on the years since, including her own experiences as a mother. She learns a few things she’d been unaware of before and adjusts her long-held opinions based on new evidence.

Berg writes family relationships so very well. All the ways in which we rely on and trust one another, show our love and loyalty, and hurt or betray one another. There are always two (or more) sides to any story, and it takes a mature person to wait to pass judgment until all parts are known. My heart broke for all the family members, and my loyalties shifted as I learned more.

Stephanie Roberts does a marvelous job of performing the audiobook. Ginny’s character as an adult woman is very different from her 11-year-old self and there are many other female characters in the book, which Roberts very well. ( )

What a beautiful little gem of a book! It's about mothers, and these 2 girls' mother. What happened in their lives, to change things so completely, what undeniable. But what what perceived, and what really happened, were 2 different things. Luckily, they all clear the air, and were able to reunite, after 35 years.. but the tale itself was quite touching. ( )

Very quick read. Not my favorite Berg, but enjoyable. Interesting take on mother / daughter relationships and the price women may pay for wanting to live independently (from husbands, etc.). ( )

47yo woman reminiscing about the summer when she was 12 and everything changed when her mother left ( )

Well-written as usual, but I did not like the narrator Ginny at all. ( )