A Summer Affair: A Novel

Elin Hilderbrand
Little, Brown and Company (2008)
ISBN 9780316018609
Reviewed by Tracy Kokemuller for Reader Views (6/08)


Claire Crispin Cook has it all - a handsome husband named Jason, four beautiful young children, and a career as a nationally-renowned artist of glass sculptures.  In fact, she has too much on her plate when she agrees to co-chair the Summer Gala, a benefit for the poor children of Nantucket.  Soon Claire finds herself having a passionate affair with the charity’s millionaire executive director, Lock Dixon.  Lock convinces Claire to come out of retirement and create an art piece to be auctioned off for the charity.  He also asks Isabelle French, a millionaire, to co-host the charity event with Claire.  Claire soon finds herself at odds with Isabelle, and is even jealous as Isabelle seems attracted to Lock. Claire finally breaks down and tells her best friend Sibohan about the affair.  Sibohan is married to Jason’s brother and threatens to tell Jason unless she stops the affair.  Claire’s drama spins out of control as the day of the Summer Gala approaches.

I found the first few chapters hard to believe because Claire jumps into the affair with Lock without the author really explaining why or developing her motives.  She does not seem to be unhappy in her marriage and the book lacks a buildup to why Claire would be so attracted to another man.  But then the book suddenly goes in another direction by switching narrators.

Now, we get Sibohan’s story and the problems she has going on in her life as well as how she starts to notice Claire’s affair.  Then, quick change, we get Lock’s point of view as well.  I really liked getting the different points of view of all the characters.  I only wished we would have heard Jason’s point of view.  It would have been more interesting. Once I started to feel like I understood more about Claire’s reasons for jumping into the affair, things abruptly change again, which was disappointing.

I will say, the author, Elin Hilderbrand, is a talented storyteller, but the story jumped around a bit too much.  I would have liked to have seen Hilderbrand focus more on Claire’s marriage to learn why she was so unhappy, at least to the point that she was open to an affair.  I was especially curious as to why she would have an affair with a man who was older and not as good looking as her husband.  The author seems to have done a lot of research about the art of glass blowing and that part was very interesting to read.  In the end, I would recommend “A Summer Affair” because the story kept me intrigued to the end and at the end there is a surprise twist, and I like surprises.  And I think you would too!

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