Publishers Weekly
03/23/2020
In Clancy’s florid, beach-ready debut, an inheritance dispute kicks up long-buried memories and secrets for a pair of sisters and their estranged adopted brother. Ann Gordon is in her mid-30s and dealing with the painful process of selling her family’s summerhouse in Wellfleet, Mass., after her parents’ death in a car accident. Unable to find a will, she tells what she assumes is a harmless lie, that besides her and her younger sister, Poppy, there are no other heirs to the title. Clancy then jumps back to when 17-year-old Ann arrives in Wellfleet for a summer, accompanied by Ann’s classmate and new addition to the Gordon family, Michael Davis, who has been adopted by the Gordons after losing his parents. Ann gets a job babysitting for the Shaw boys, their neighbors, and becomes entangled with the boys’ overbearing mother and their father, who has a wandering eye. By summer’s end, a rape and a miscarriage of justice set in motion a chain of events that will change the course of Ann and Michael’s lives. While the Shaw characters can be disappointingly flat in a way that borders on cartoonish, Clancy’s affectionate descriptions of Wellfleet are transporting. This is sure to be a favorite with book clubs. (June)
From the Publisher
Praise for The Second Home:
One of Good Morning America's "25 Novels You'll Want to Read this Summer"
"Christina Clancy writes with warmth, wit, and wisdom about fantastically human characters. A novel of family and place and belonging for fans of Ann Packer and J. Courtney Sullivan." —Rebecca Makkai, Pulitzer Prize finalist for The Great Believers
"I gobbled The Second Home in a matter of days, fully invested in the history, hurt, and hopes of this very human family. Christina Clancy writes with empathy and rich detail: to read about the Gordons is to smell the pine and oak of Wellfleet, to tread the well-worn rooms of their eccentric summer home, and to learn all sides of the explosive rift that sent them hurtling in different directions. Tender and suspenseful, Clancy's debut explores the nature of home as well as the nature of family itself—given and chosen." —Chloe Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of The Immortalists
"A sure-footed ode to the strength of family, the depth of loss, and the power of forgiveness." —J. Ryan Stradal, New York Times best-selling author, Kitchens of the Great Midwest
"The Second Home shows us how families are knit together and how they unravel; how a place—a geography, a house—can act as the repository for our best and most important memories. And that even the most damaged past can be reclaimed, a hard-won wisdom that shines through on every page." —Jean Thompson, New York Times bestselling author of The Year We Left Home
"Clancy imagines her complicated characters with such empathy and precision that every questionable choice, every mistake, feels like the only option. The Second Home is a big, sprawling, smart, beautiful story about love and betrayal, home and family, and the foundations of forgiveness." —Lauren Fox, author of Days of Awe, Friends Like Us, and Still Life With Husband
"Christina Clancy writes with an arresting vividness and a nuanced understanding of her characters, who are buffeted by a storm of conflicting desires. A poignant but also very entertaining novel—full of startling detail, humor, and above all, an abiding sympathy for its beautifully drawn characters." —Christine Sneed, author of Little Known Facts
"This deeply moving and heartfelt book explores what makes a home - and how homes make us. It's deftly plotted, sensuously told, and incredibly smart about the secrets that pull families apart and the love that knits them back together." —Liam Callanan, author of Paris by the Book.
"Every Wellfleet sand dune, every breeze and beach and pond, came alive for me in this beautiful, heartbreaking debut about a Milwaukee family’s complicated history with their summer home. Christina Clancy’s characters are so real and flawed, so caught between the darkness and the light, that they step right off the page, and you won’t rest until you know what becomes of them." —Meg Mitchell Moore, author of The Admissions and The Islanders
"From the first pages of The Second Home, it’s abundantly clear that Christina Clancy has an abiding love for outer Cape Cod, which she conjures in all its bluster and beauty. But as this compelling novel progresses, it also becomes obvious that Clancy has a keen awareness of how secrets can tear apart even the closest of families. Drawn in by the exquisitely-rendered setting, I was riveted by this stirring, family drama." —Karen Dukess, author of The Last Book Party
"Warm, absorbing and thought-provoking.." —Shelf Awareness
"A riveting family saga that fans of J. Courtney Sullivan, Cristina Alger, and Maria de los Santos will devour, Clancy's debut novel is a delight. With nostalgia as thick as the scent of coconut-scented sunscreen, The Second Home explores the consequences of emotional decisions and the strength needed to set things right." —Booklist (starred review)
"Transporting...Clancy's beach-ready debut is sure to be a favorite with book clubs." —Publisher's Weekly
"Witty and compassionate, this is the page-turning saga, unfolding in several voices, of two sisters, their estranged adopted brother and the dispute that arises 15 years after their parents' death." —Naples Daily News
"With its fond descriptions of Cape Cod’s land and seascapes and an evocation of a historic house layered with love and secrets, Clancy’s debut clearly has its eye firmly set on the summer-read market." —Kirkus
