The Lost Summers of Newport: A Novel
The Lost Summers of Newport: A Novel book cover

The Lost Summers of Newport: A Novel

Hardcover – Deckle Edge, May 17, 2022

Price
$20.45
Format
Hardcover
Pages
400
Publisher
William Morrow
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0063040748
Dimensions
6 x 1.25 x 9 inches
Weight
1.19 pounds

Description

"An engrossing and sumptuous tale, this novel is a fantastic spring read." — Good Morning America “Three stories elegantly intertwine in this clever and stylish tale of murder and family lies from Williams, Willig, and White…This crackerjack novel offers three mysteries for the price of one.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) "This triple POV novel comes form the minds of three historical fiction powerhouses, so you know it's going to be a delight." — Buzzfeed “ The Lost Summers of Newport —by a trio of historical fiction icons, Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig and Karen White—is an elegant approach to the old ‘trouble in paradise’ scenario, spanning generations of deceit in a New England mansion.” — Chicago Tribune “If, like me, you’re mourning the season end of the HBO series, The Gilded Age , I have good news: Atlanta author Karen White along with Beatriz William and Lauren Willig have penned The Lost Summers of Newport , a historic mystery spanning more than a century of the once-wealthy Sprague family residing in an extravagant Gilded Age home in Newport, Rhode Island.” — The Augusta Chronicle “Three historical fiction powerhouses combine efforts to create an enthralling adventure spanning from the onset of World War I to the 1960s, telling the story of three women and their stay at the famous Ritz Hotel in Paris.” — Book Riot on All the Ways We Said Goodbye “All three of these ‘team W’ writers create engaging characters and complex relationships while setting a tone that matches the story’s time period…The twist at the center of the story is worth the price of admission on its own. A great choice for anyone looking for clever historical fiction with plenty of drama, action, and surprises in every chapter.” — Library Journalxa0on All the Ways We Said Goodbye “A sweeping historical novel about the strength of women who find themselves in impossible situations.” — Popsugar on All the Ways We Said Goodbye “Full of heart and intrigue, the authors' latest collaboration captures women's perseverance and how history connects us all.” — Booklist on All the Ways We Said Goodbye “For most people, staying at a grand hotel is a rare treat. It’s a time to indulge in luxury, to be catered to with impeccable service and to forget about the outside world until check-out. It’s not unlike the experience a reader gets when reading All the Ways We Said Goodbye .” — Atlanta Journal-Constitution Beatriz Williams is the bestselling author of thirteen novels, including Her Last Flight, The Summer Wives, and The Golden Hour, as well as All the Ways We Said Goodbye, cowritten with Lauren Willig and Karen White . A native of Seattle, she graduated from Stanford University and earned an MBA in finance from Columbia University. She lives with her husband and four children near the Connecticut shore, where she divides her time between writing and laundry. Lauren Willigxa0is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of twenty novels, including The Summer Country, The Ashford Affair, and The English Wife. She lives in New York City with her husband and family. Karen White is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of twenty-five novels, including Dreams of Falling and The Night the Lights Went Out. She has two grown children and currently lives near Atlanta, Georgia, with herxa0husband and two spoiled Havanese dogs.

Features & Highlights

  • THE
  • NEW YORK TIMES
  • BESTSELLER
  • "An engrossing and sumptuous tale, this novel is a fantastic spring read." —
  • Good Morning America
  • From the
  • New York Times
  • bestselling team of Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White—a novel of money and secrets set among the famous summer mansions of Newport, Rhode Island, spanning over a century from the Gilded Age to the present day.
  • “Three stories elegantly intertwine in this clever and stylish tale of murder and family lies…This crackerjack novel offers three mysteries for the price of one.” —
  • Publishers Weekly
  • (starred review)
  • 2019: Andie Figuero has just landed her dream job as a producer of
  • Mansion Makeover
  • , a popular reality show about restoring America’s most lavish historic houses. Andie has high hopes for her latest project: the once glorious but gently crumbling Sprague Hall in Newport, Rhode Island, summer resort of America’s gilded class—famous for the lavish “summer cottages” of Vanderbilts and Belmonts. But Andie runs into trouble: the reclusive heiress who still lives in the mansion, Lucia “Lucky” Sprague, will only allow the show to go forward on two conditions: One, nobody speaks to her. Two, nobody touches the mansion’s ruined boathouse.
  • 1899: Ellen Daniels has been hired to give singing lessons to Miss Maybelle Sprague, a naive young Colorado mining heiress whose stepbrother John has poured their new money into buying a place among Newport’s elite. John is determined to see Maybelle married off to a fortune-hunting Italian prince, and Ellen is supposed to polish up the girl for her launch into society. But the deceptively demure Ellen has her own checkered past, and she’s hiding in plain sight at Sprague Hall.
  • 1958: Lucia “Lucky” Sprague has always felt like an outsider at Sprague Hall. When she and her grandmother—the American-born Princess di Conti—fled Mussolini’s Italy, it seemed natural to go back to the imposing Newport house Nana owned but hadn’t seen since her marriage in 1899. Over the years, Lucky's lost her Italian accent and found a place for herself among the yachting set by marrying Stuyvesant Sprague, the alcoholic scion of her Sprague stepfamily. But one fateful night in the mansion’s old boathouse will uncover a devastating truth...and change everything she thought she knew about her past.
  • As the cameras roll on
  • Mansion Makeover
  • , the house begins to yield up the dark secrets the Spragues thought would stay hidden forever….

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(896)
★★★★
25%
(747)
★★★
15%
(448)
★★
7%
(209)
23%
(687)

Most Helpful Reviews

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A story of Newport's brief Gilded Age and its consequences

Sydney M. Williams

The Lost Summers of Newport
Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, Karen White
June 4, 2022

“Like Sprague Hall itself, you never knew
what kind of rot lay behind the façade.”
The Lost Summers of Newport

Like a Nova, Newport, with its enormous, newly-built mansions, exploded onto the social scene during the late 19th Century; then that Gilded Age faded away in a matter of two or three generations.

This is the fourth novel written by three friends who, independently, are all New York Times best-selling authors. (A caveat – Beatriz is married to my oldest son.) As in their previous novels, this story unfolds over three time periods, in this case at Sprague Hall – 1899, 1957 and 2019 – on Newport’s Bellevue Avenue. While one of Newport’s “mansions,” Sprague Hall is not as imposing as its neighbors: It is “…tucked between Marble House and Rosecliff…a less significant house perched near a small curve of coast with the improbable name of Sheep Point Cove.”

This story of Newport’s extravagances and secrets is told through the voices of three young women, representing the three time periods: 1899 – Ellen (“…hoping the tremble in her voice would be taken for awe, and not fear.”) has been hired to give singing lessons to Maybelle Sprague. 1957 – Lucky (“Teddy was the only person in Newport who knew what Lucky really thought of Minty Appleton.”) is the Italian-born granddaughter of the American-born Princess di Conti. 2019 – Andie (“…it was clear I had traveled more than just the thirty-three miles separating my hometown of Cranston, Rhode Island from the coastal resort of Newport.”) is a young, producer on Makeover Mansions, a reality TV show about restoring some of America’s most lavish houses.

While chronology is important and the reader must keep track of multiple characters and generations, it is through Andie – her persistence with the remaining members of the Sprague family – that the mysteries of the house and its occupants (past and present) are unraveled. With chapters alternating between the three time periods, we begin to understand the family tensions and sense the secrets that underlie them.

The stories of the three women blend as the reader proceeds, at an ever-quickening pace. Like the orchestral piece, Maurice Ravel’s Boléro, the novel builds toward a crescendo. This reader found his pulse quickening and his eyes moving ever faster down the page, as the story reached its climax, which was both surprising and satisfying.

The second season of Julian Fellowes’ The Gilded Age has been filming in Newport, making The Lost Summers of Newport timely. Incidentally, this novel will show up as number 15 on the June 5th (tomorrow) New York Times best-selling list, possibly the first time that a novel authored by three women has made that list.
10 people found this helpful
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Picture of a family tree would have been helpful…

I’m about half way through the book right now. After the first two or three chapters I had to get a tablet to make notes of which characters were in which era. (See photo) Way too confusing trying to keep them all straight. The book is simply not very interesting to me… I’m not sure if I will finish it
6 people found this helpful
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Money and Class Dazed & Confused

I like Newport and thought I was getting historical fiction with each section written by a different author. There's no identification as to who wrote what so it's possible that all 3 authors wrote in collaboration. I'd have preferred 1 author and a linear story. The alternating characters & time periods were distracting and the plots were repetitious - one who needs money meets one who needs love. Each of the 3 had forgettable friends who further detracted from their stories. There's an unseen telephone character, a California hippie, & indistinguishable drunks passing out. Andie had zero personality, looks, or intelligence so the author(s) tried to make her interesting by pretending her nephew was her son & did we need to know about her sister's drunken sexual assaults at a frat party where he was conceived? Upon reflection, Lucky seems like the worst of the three - she wasn't any more faithful than her husband! who seemed like he'd rein it in if she would. A fictional account of the oft-mentioned Debutante Vanderbilt who used her wealth to marry an English royal would've been more interesting.
4 people found this helpful
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Gilded Age to Modern Age

This is another great read from the Three W's, as they call themselves. An obnoxious nouveau riche man is trying to marry off his stepsister to an Italian prince. The family saga is told over three timelines, 1899, 1957, and 2019. The background in the gorgeous "cottages" of the ultra rich. Things do change over time, between the income tax and the depression, house become lost and decay from lack of maintenance. Andie Figueroa is brought in to host a reality show called Mansion Makeover, which sounds very interesting. So many restrictions are placed on her by the homeowner, she wonders how she can do her job. Disappearances, an elopement, a gang killing, some fabulous parties, three beyond obnoxious characters, and lots romance are some of the many elements which combine to make a delightful summer read.
4 people found this helpful
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Look Beneath The Veneer

The three stories (for each of the above mentioned characters) center around Sprague Hall, a fictitious home of a nouveau riche family determined to intrude upon the elite that make up Newport’s summer social register. The Spragues are from the West – a copper heiress (not born a Sprague) and her step-brother who is determined to marry his fragile sister, Maybell, to an Italian prince in search of money for his penniless lineage. He will stop at nothing in order to see his sister wed to the prince thus ensuring the family’s respectability. This is the first story set at the turn of the 20th century. The second story is of Lucky Sprague, granddaughter to Maybelle and the Prince. She returns to Newport Society and marries in her step-family. But Lucky’s marriage is anything but a bed of roses. She will go through life never being with the one man she loves and hiding family secrets. Could the boathouse have something to do with that? And finally, Andie Figuero, a modern day tv host for a reality house makeover show. Will Sprague Hall be where she finally meets her true love? And will Andie be the one to see the corruption beneath the thin veneer of respectability of Newport society?

Every now and then along comes a book that is so well written and such a pleasure to read and with a compelling story line, that it is impossible to put down. For me, The Lost Summers of Newport is just such a book. Although there are three authors not once did the story stumble or stagger between writing styles. The transitions were flawless and I still can’t tell where one author stopped and another started.

The three stories are interwoven with the skills of a terrific artist, for after all, isn’t writing an art? And using the glossed over façade of the house to hide the rot behind the paint mirrors the corruption and scandals that lie beneath the thin layer of respectability with which the Newport matrons cloak themselves and their families.

Not just a beach read, The Lost Summers of Newport is a great read any time of year.
3 people found this helpful
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Not My Favorite of Theirs

I’m tiring of the style of storyline that goes back and forth between several eras and characters. I found the characters Andie and Ellen initially quite rude, rather than strong-willed and sassy or whatever it was they were trying to portray; I couldn’t resolve why the men bothered with them at all (there’s a difference between a challenge and a jerk). Much of the story seemed implausible and the ending felt weak and redundant. Glad I got it from the library but I do love the cover.
2 people found this helpful
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Not her best work

Usually love these authors but this story was hard to get into and a bit boring.
2 people found this helpful
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Team W does it again!!!

The Lost Summers of Newport is perhaps Williams, Willig, and White’s best book. Set in Newport, Rhode Island, the authors seamlessly weave together the story from 1899, 1957, and 2019. The characters and their interactions with one another are complex and well-developed. Lastly, the many plot twists make the book difficult to put down. I have read and enjoyed all of these authors’ books, and this one definitely did not disappoint!!
2 people found this helpful
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Confusing

Switching back and forth over decades has too many main characters. I almost needed a pad and pencil to keep up with the relatives or almost relatives. Thought it would be a good read but was not a favorite. I was able to tell which parts Karen White wrote, same style as her Charleston series.
2 people found this helpful
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Great story, weak ending

I could not out this book down after I started reading. What a great story and characters. I was disappointed by several holes in the plot and characters by whom I was intrigued but we're never mentioned again. By the time the end of the book came along it felt as if the author's had lost interest and took the obvious way out to close the story. I'd still recommend it as I usually love these authors.
2 people found this helpful