Summer Sisters by Judy Blume

Synopsis:

This is a coming of age novel about two friends Caitlin Somers and Victoria Leonard who spend every summer together as teenagers in Martha’s Vineyard. Caitlin is beautiful, popular and very outgoing while Victoria is more shy, withdrawn, and introverted. The book begins with Caitlin calling Victoria to tell her that she is marrying her ex boyfriend and first love, Bru.

Victoria lives with her controlling mother, Tawny, her father, and has three younger siblings Lanie, Lewis, and Nathan who has muscular dystrophy. She meets Caitlin at school and Caitlin invites her to come with her to Martha’s Vineyard for the summer. Caitlin’s family is her laid-back father Lambert, her brother Sharkey, and Abby, Lamb’s girlfriend.

Over the summer, Caitlin and Victoria get crushes on Joseph (Bru) and his cousin Von. They make a pact to spend every summer together. Victoria gets together with Bru and Caitlin gets together with Von. When they go to college together, Caitlin doesn’t stay with Von but Victoria stays with Bru. Victoria gets a scholarship to Harvard and Caitlin is accepted to Wellesley but chooses not to attend and travels abroad.

Victoria stays with Joseph all through college and he proposes to her before they graduate, but she rejects his proposal because they want different things. Caitlin and Joseph end up getting married and have a daughter, Maisie. Victoria reconnects with Gus, Abby’s son, Daniel’s friend, and they fall in love and get married.

The book ends with Victoria visiting Caitlin after Caitlin ends her marriage to Joseph and he gets remarried to Star, a local woman on the island. Victoria is pregnant with her first child, a boy, whom she is naming Nate after her brother who passed away. Caitlin disappears while going out on a boat alone and is unknown whether she drowned or vanished.

Review:

For the most part, I enjoyed this book. I loved the friendship between Caitlin and Victoria and thought that it was a nice light hearted summer read.

“You weren’t always born to the right parents and parents didn’t necessarily get the kids they were meant to raise.”

“Some people never get over their first love. They spend their whole lives trying to recapture the thrill.”

“Caitlin isn’t someone to get over. She is someone to come to terms with the way you have to come to terms with your parents, your siblings. You can’t deny they ever happened. You can’t deny you ever loved them, love them still, even if loving them still causes you pain.”