A picturesque Maine beach town is the setting for Holly Chamberlin's touching and thought-provoking new novel, as a mother struggles to reconnect with her long lost daughter...Every year on March 26th, Verity Peterson visits Ogunquit Beach, where she puts a handwritten message into a bottle and launches it into the waves. It's a ritual of remembrance for the daughter she hasn't seen in sixteen years--not since her baby's father, Alan, took two-month-old Gemma and disappeared. Verity keeps searching and hoping, sustained by the thought that someday she might get to be a mother to her own child. And finally, one phone call may change everything...Verity learns that Alan is now in jail on abduction charges--and Marni Armstrong, born Gemma Peterson-Burns, is coming to live with Verity in Yorktide, Maine. But this isn't the joyful reunion Verity imagined. Gemma has been raised to believe Verity was an unfit mother who left Alan no choice but to take...

Set against the beautiful backdrop of coastal Maine, bestselling author Holly Chamberlin's heartwarming novel tells of friendship, family, lessons learned, and newfound love—all under a summer sky . . . Every June, the quiet beach town of Ogunquit is overtaken by wealthy families who hire local young women like Amy Latimer and Hayley Franklin to care for their children. Best friends since childhood, Amy and Hayley are eager to secure lucrative summer jobs. Amy wants to finance her upcoming move to Boston. Hayley hopes to squirrel away enough money so that her mom can finally leave her abusive husband. Amy is immediately in thrall to her dynamic boss, Cressida Prior, so different from Amy's mother, Leda. Though skilled at creating tapestries and rugs, Leda lacks confidence. But one thing she does know, after a painful summer long ago as a nanny herself, is how damaging a manipulative boss can be. Hayley's employers, Jon and...

Holly Chamberlin, bestselling author of The Family Beach House and Summer Friends, weaves a powerful and heartfelt story of the bond between mothers and daughters, and the resilience of true friendship. . .The town of Yorktide, close to Maine's beautiful beaches and the city of Portland, seems like the perfect place to raise a family. For Jane Patterson, there's another advantage: her best friend, Frannie Giroux, lives next door, and their teenaged daughters, Rosie and Meg, are inseparable. But in the girls' freshman year of high school, everything changes.Jane always felt lucky that she was able to work from home, to be there to nurture and protect Rosie. But has she been too protective? Rosie—quiet, shy, and also very pretty—attracts the sneers and slights of a clique of older girls. Over time, the bullying worsens. When Meg betrays their friendship, fearful that she too will be targeted, Rosie suffers an emotional breakdown.Blaming both Meg...

Against the irresistible backdrop of Christmas in New England, bestselling author Holly Chamberlin creates a heartfelt and memorable novel—a story of reunited family, new beginnings, and unconditional love—the best gift of all.To outsiders, Appleville, New Hampshire, is a storybook small town complete with a little white church and a gazebo on the village green. To Gincy Gannon Luongo, it was a place to escape from, as quickly and as permanently as she could. Since she moved away twenty years ago, Appleville has been her hometown in name only. But at her brother Tommy's urging, Gincy is coming back to visit their recently widowed mother in the weeks leading up to Christmas—and she's bringing her teenage daughter, Tamsin, with her.Ellen Gannon, once feisty and strong-willed, is mired in depression six months after losing her husband. Tommy isn't doing much better. Gincy starts restoring order to the household in her usual practical way, but the real...

In this compelling, heartfelt novel from the bestselling author of Tuscan Holiday and The Friends We Keep, a family reunited for the holidays explores the price of secrets, the power of regret, and the choices that can change everything. . .The Rowans' rambling Maine farmhouse is just big enough to contain the family members gathered there in the week before Christmas. Becca Rowan has driven north from Boston with one thought in mind—reclaiming the daughter she gave up when she was a frightened teenager. Raised by Becca's older brother and his wife, Rain Rowan, now sixteen, has no idea she was adopted. And though Becca agreed not to reveal the truth until Rain turned twenty-one, lately that promise, along with all her career success, counts for little in the face of her loneliness and longing.But while Becca anticipates shock at her announcement, she's unprepared for the depth of her family's reactions. Her brother is angry and fearful of losing the...