22 books set by the sea Archives

The Summer Girlfriend

by Kristina Forest

This sweet summer romance and 2026 Summer Reading Guide selection is bursting with bookishness and baked goods. Jeremiah has been avoiding his tight-knit family lately, claiming his (fictional) girlfriend has kept him too busy. Noelle makes decent money as a for-hire bridesmaid, but needs a lot more to pay tuition for her coveted library science degree. After a bookstore meet-cute, Jeremiah makes Noelle an offer: pretend to be his girlfriend at his family’s beach house for the weekend. That outing goes so well, they extend their fake fling for the whole summer. Noelle falls in love with the house, the family… and pretty soon she’s falling for Jeremiah as well. Little does she know, it’s mutual. This is a fun escapist read with a beach house setting that’s a character in its own right.

The Shore

by Katie Runde

Brian and Margot live a dream life with their teen daughters Liz and Evy in a beach town on the Jersey Shore, as year-round residents who make their living renting vacation homes to tourists. But when Brian is diagnosed with a rare and personality-altering brain tumor, everything changes. While Margot tries to keep their bustling real estate business afloat, the girls adjust to caretaking for their father and continuing to do normal teenage stuff like trying new summer jobs and trying on new personas. A moving, heart-wrenching, and ultimately hopeful story of love, family, and grief in a tourist town.

Make Nice

by Ryan Effgen

In Effgen’s debut comedy of manners, three adult siblings return, at their father’s request, to The Grand Hotel, a thinly veiled version of Mackinac Island and a place that was special to them growing up after their mother died. Snail scientist Pete, soon-to-be divorcée Viv, and con man Corey go into the long weekend prepared to “make nice” but of course nothing goes as planned for them, Viv’s teenage daughter, or their incompetent father. I googled so many aspects of Pete’s story, which was my favorite of the bunch: Carthusian snails, carrera marble, and the Michigan shoreline.

Rebecca

by Daphne du Maurier

This 1930s Gothic classic is an un-put-down-able mystery. Don't be put off by its age: this thrilling novel feels surprisingly current (and Mrs Danvers is as creepy as ever). Du Maurier's approach is unusual: the woman of the title is dead before the action begins; the young second wife, our narrator, is never given a name. Because she doesn't understand what's going on for a long time, neither does the reader. And by the time you find out what really happened, you may find yourself one of the many readers who feel almost complicit in the crime. Suspenseful but not scary, and it holds its tension on a re-reading: a sure sign of a well-crafted thriller.

Down With the Shipmans

by Meg Mitchell Moore

Unfolding over the course of a single July week, this juicy family drama features an attractive setting and interesting roster of characters. The three adult Shipman daughters return to the beloved family beach home on the New Hampshire coast to spend time together—the first real time they’ll spend together since their mother’s death from cancer. They think it’s a reunion; what they don’t know is that it’s also a goodbye, because their father intends to list the house for sale before the week is over.

Persuasion

by Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice should be read in the spring; Emma in the summer. But Persuasion is for fall. This the last novel Austen completed before her death, and it’s darker and more serious in tone than her earlier works. With its themes of love, regret, and fidelity, this is my favorite Austen novel—at least some of the time. But always in autumn.

Sandwich

by Catherine Newman

I am at the exact stage of life for this pitch-perfect midlife tale to resonate deeply. For what may be the last time, fifty-something Rocky and her husband cram into a tiny Cape Cod beach house for one glorious week, along with their two kids, one girlfriend, and Rocky’s aging parents. Emotions are running high, as Rocky, nostalgic and menopausal, wants to relish every moment with her adult children and increasingly fragile parents. Their time together is precious, and also turbulent, as it is revealed that various family members have been hiding shattering truths for decades—out of love, yes, but hiding them all the same. I read it in two days and put it straight on my Best of the Year list.

The Blue Bistro

by Elin Hilderbrand

Within hours of arriving on Nantucket, Adrienne lands a job at The Blue Bistro, its acclaimed oceanside restaurant. Over the course of the summer, she falls in love, endures family drama, and confronts a medical mystery, but the real star of this book is the restaurant itself. Hilderbrand’s tales from the belly of a fabulous summer hotspot are riveting and realistic: you’ll find yourself rooting for Adrienne as she figures out how to survive in the cutthroat setting. Warning: all that great food on the page will make you hungry. Hilderbrand is queen of the summer novel; this is one of her best.

The Cliffs

by J. Courtney Sullivan

Sullivan’s provocative latest is the story of a purple Victorian and the land on which it sits, overlooking the ocean in Maine. The story begins in the present, when a disgraced Harvard archivist retreats to her hometown after torching her marriage and career in one foolish act. The house’s owner asks her to research its history; she’s convinced it’s haunted and wants to get to know her ghosts. Jane’s research uncovers the female artist who lived and worked there in the 1960s and the former Shaker who worked there as a hired girl in the 1850s, and ultimately takes her back to the time when the Wabanaki people lived on the land. The present day storyline doesn’t hold the same allure as the past dramas, but this juicy summer tale remains immersive, nuanced, and oh-so-discussable.

The Light Between Oceans

by M.L. Stedman

Tom and Isabel live alone on Janus Rock, keeping the lighthouse. After two miscarriages and one stillbirth, all on the isolated island, Isabel is despondent. When a boat holding a dead man and a crying baby washes up on shore, Isabel persuades Tom to leave the discovery out of his log and eventually adopts the child as her own. But when they visit the shore and its nearby community two years later ... you can imagine what might happen.

This Summer Will Be Different

by Carley Fortune

Listen up, Anne of Green Gables fans: Carley Fortune wrote a summer romance just for you. Five years ago, Lucy visited her best friend’s homeland of Prince Edward Island and fell in love with the place—and fell in love with her bestie Bridget’s brother, which Bridget warned her not to do. Every summer since then, Felix has been Lucy’s once-a-year secret fling. But now Bridget’s getting married and the two friends have just one more week on the Island together before everything changes—and this time, Felix can’t be a distraction. I loved the lavish PEI descriptions, abundant Anne Shirley appearances, and the beautiful depiction not just of a slowly blossoming romance (just wait till Felix and Lucy start mailing each other seed packets and books) but also a life-anchoring friendship. (Open door.)

The Winter Sea (Slains #1)

by Susanna Kearsley

Carrie McClelland is an author looking for her next story when she ventures to Scotland. She settles near the ruins of Slains Castle to write, drawing inspiration from her own family history and the events of the Jacobite uprising. With parallel storylines in the 1700’s and present day, a romantic subplot, and paranormal elements, it’s no surprise that readers recommend Kearsley as an author worth binge reading. If you love The Winter Sea and want more, pick up the sequel, The Firebird.

Flashlight

by Susan Choi

Flashlight opens with a mystery: in 1970s Japan, Louisa and her father Serk go for a walk by the shore at dusk, flashlight in hand. The two don’t return as expected. Hours later, searchers find Louisa, unconscious in the water, but her father is missing. Choi subsequently crosses generations and continents as she traces what happened in the decades before and after his disappearance, exploring the estrangements and sorrows of two families, how geopolitics impacts ordinary citizens, and (playing with that flashlight metaphor) how our limited understanding of the people we love causes us pain. An absorbing and satisfyingly complex epic.

Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions (Auntie Poldi Adventure #1)

by Mario Giordano

Bavarian widow moves to Sicily and rediscovers her love of living. "On her sixtieth birthday my Auntie Poldi moved to Sicily, intending to drink herself comfortably to death with a sea view." So says Poldi's nephew Michael. But life gets in the way: when Poldi's handyman goes missing, Poldi resolves to find him—with the help of the sexy police Commissario and a host of quirky Italians. Her quest brings Poldi back to life, and all she loves about it—namely prosecco, men, and gossip. Big-hearted and funny, smart and escapist: it's like taking your own Italian vacation.

Typewriter Beach

by Meg Waite Clayton

This riveting historical brings McCarthy-era Hollywood to life. In 1957, Isabella’s movie studio intends to make her the next Grace Kelly—if she can toe the line. But when she runs afoul of their plans, their “fixer” installs her at a cottage in Carmel-by-the-Sea to wait for her situation to be handled. While there, she forms an unlikely friendship with the reclusive Leo, a talented screenwriter who’s living in exile because he’s been blacklisted. A complementary 2017 storyline makes it clear that the past era’s struggles are very much present in Hollywood today. I loved this story for its propulsive plot and riveting period details, most especially the numerous lovely portrayals of people finding love and family even when they’d given up hope of it happening for them in an unkind world.

Circe

by Madeline Miller

Miller’s Odyssey retelling focuses on the witch Circe, who is known for having turned men into pigs. Here we see how and why she got to that point. Circe grows up as the daughter of Helios, the god of the Sun and a Titan. She doesn’t fit in with her family but over time, she discovers she does have magical powers all her own. Banished to a deserted island by Zeus, she comes into her own as she meets both friend and foe. This is an inventive take on a familiar story that allowed me to see it in a new, fresh way. I loved this on audiobook as narrated by Perdita Weeks. (Content warnings apply.)

The Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club

by Martha Hall Kelly

This multigenerational tale brings a little-known aspect of history to life. Kelly’s starting point was the stories her mother used to tell about growing up on Martha’s Vineyard, especially her WWII-era tales about rumors of German U-boats lurking offshore. From there Kelly crafts a home front tale about two very different sisters whose lives are upended when U.S. Army troops take up residence on the island for training maneuvers. The handsome soldiers bring excitement to the small community, but fear and disruption as well: times were hard enough before these added concerns. When the women start a book club to find solace and community, their lives change in unexpected ways.

Wide Sargasso Sea

by Jean Rhys

In this imaginative prequel, Rhys gives a story and voice to the "villain" of Jane Eyre. Readers know Bertha as Mr Rochester's crazed wife who haunts his attic. In Wide Sargasso Sea, we meet her in her youth in the West Indies, before she enters an unfortunate marriage with the powerful, selfish Englishman, a marriage so devastating it literally drives her mad. Rhys grew up in the Caribbean herself, and the details ring true in this lush and lyrical story. (I would read Jane Eyre before you pick this up.)

Wild Dark Shore

by Charlotte McConaghy

Dominic Salt and his three children live on Shearwater Island, not far from Antarctica. He tends to the world's largest seabank, which used to teem with researchers. Now only the Salts remain despite the rising sea levels. When a woman almost drowns while trying to reach the island by boat, Dominic's teenage daughter rescues her and drags her ashore. As the woman gets to know the family and gains insight into the secrets they’re keeping, she’s hiding a secret mission of her own. A brooding, character-driven, page-turning read.

Fellowship Point

by Alice Elliott Dark

This sprawling saga featuring two octogenarian protagonists reads like a 19th century novel. Agnes Lee and Polly Wister have been friends their whole lives, growing up alongside each other in Philadelphia Quaker families and summering together in Maine. Agnes is beloved by the world as a bestselling children’s author, but not a living soul—including Polly—knows she also pens the popular and critically praised Franklin Square series. Polly knows Agnes sees her as a pushover, especially when it comes to her family, but Polly never lets on she’s wiser than her friend gives her credit for. When an enterprising (and nosy) young editor begins pestering Agnes to write a memoir, she sets in motion a chain of events that tests the women’s lifelong friendship, and threatens to expose the long-buried secrets each has so carefully kept from the other. If you want a big, rich, and immersive novel to sink into this summer, this 592-pager is just the ticket. For fans of Virginia Hume’s Haven Point and Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale.

Chirp

The Irish Goodbye

by Heather Aimee O'Neill

O’Neill’s debut is set largely over the Thanksgiving holiday when a big Irish American family comes back together at the dilapidated old family seaside home for the first time in years. This family once had four siblings; now three adult sisters remain, having lost their brother years ago when he was just in his twenties. The family never figured out how to deal with the aftermath of a tragic accident on their brother’s boat that happened two decades ago and resulted in a friend’s death, an expensive lawsuit against their parents, and their brother’s subsequent tragic death. Now the parents are aging and struggling to take care of the old home, and of each other. The newly returned Ryan sisters are eager to reconnect but they each carry a secret—and before the weekend is over, it’s all going to come spilling out. This family drama explores grief, guilt, regret, and aging amidst the tensions of the holiday.

Lucy by the Sea

by Elizabeth Strout

I sat down with this book on a Saturday and read the entire thing because I didn't want to put it down. It is a pandemic story, following Lucy as she escapes with her companion from New York City to the coast of Maine. The conversations in this book are about the pandemic, but also about the fragility of life and what it means to be in relationship with others, and I found it touching, sad, but ultimately life-affirming.

22 books set by the sea

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