The Summerhouse [Hardcover]

Jude Deveraux (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2001

Have you ever wanted to rewrite your past?

Three best friends, all with the same birthday, are about to turn forty. They plan to share this momentous occasion together at a summerhouse in Maine, talking up a storm and taking stock of their lives and loves, their wishes and choices. But none of them expect the gift that awaits them at the summerhouse: the chance for each of them to turn their "what-might-have-beens" into reality....

Leslie Headrick, Madison Appleby, and Ellie Abbott met nineteen years ago in the most unlikely place: stuck in line at the New York City Department of Motor Vehicles. Not only did they each turn twenty-one on that memorable day, but on that day, they shared with each other their past secrets and their hopes for the future. They were three beautiful and extraordinarily talented young women with the world theirs for the taking. But life doesn't always go according to one's youthful imaginings. Leslie, now a suburban wife and mother, is refusing to listen to what people are saying about her husband and his beautiful assistant. Instead, she follows the career of a boy who pursued her in college: he's now a presidential hopeful. What would her life be like if she had chosen differently? Madison dropped a modeling career to help her high school boyfriend recover from an accident, even though he'd jilted her. Years later, he was on his feet again and Madison had met Thomas, the man who was all she'd ever dreamed of. But by that time Madison knew she had no right to Thomas' love. What if she had said "no" when her old boyfriend had called? Ellie became a famous, bestselling novelist, but when she grew tired of supporting her narcissistic, philanderinghusband, she divorced him. What was done to her in the divorce court cost her not only all of her earnings from her writing, but also her belief in herself. More that anything, Ellie needed to know why she'd been so brutalized by the "justice" system, and could she prevent its happening the second time around?

Now, as Leslie, Madison, and Ellie reunite at the summerhouse, each ?nds a puzzling card from a "Madame Zoya," offering them the chance of a lifetime: to relive any three months from the past. Will the road not taken prove a better path? Each woman will have to decide for herself as she follows the dream that got away...and each must choose the life that will truly satisfy the longings that live deep inside her heart.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

What if a woman could go back to the beginning and rethink her choices for love and life? When Leslie Headrick, Madison Appleby, and Ellie Abbott first met, they were in their early 20s and the world lay before them with its infinite possibilities. Now that they're about to turn 40, they reunite for a weekend at a summerhouse in Maine where they share the details of their lives during the past 20 years. Each woman has serious doubts and questions about the path she chose to follow, but none of them suspect the startling opportunity they're about to be offered to relive those choices and change their futures.

Thought-provoking, entertaining, and downright delightful, Jude Deveraux's The Summerhouse deftly develops the individual stories of the three women in fascinating detail while maintaining the overall focus on the central tale. The ties of sisterhood and shared experience that bind the three resonate with depth and clarity--no wonder then that Deveraux is a perennial favorite with readers. There is little doubt that this volume will join her lengthy list of bestsellers. --Lois Faye Dyer

From Publishers Weekly

"If you had to do it all over again, what would you do?" is the question Deveraux poses in this wistful novel of second chances. Twenty-five years into her career, with 26 New York Times bestsellers to her credit and 30 million copies of her books in print, the author serves up the following situation: 19 years ago, Leslie, Madison and Ellie met while waiting in line to get their licenses renewed at the New York City Department of Motor Vehicles. Sharing the same birthday, they became instant friends. Now they're all turning 40, and although they haven't seen each other since that long-ago day, when Ellie invites the others for a reunion in Maine, they agree to attend. Once there, they realize that their lives haven't turned out as planned. But then the trio stumble across Madame Zoya of Futures, Inc., who make them an irresistible offer: they can relive any three weeks from the past, armed with the knowledge since gained. Afterwards, they must decide: should they stick with the lives they have or go with the new futures they've created? The conceit of the DMV meeting and subsequent reunion functions as a clunky device to let the women tell their individual tales of woe; the idea that they're soul mates even though they only met once and never kept in touch requires a considerable stretch of the imagination. When they do go back in time, like 40-years-olds trying to play 20 at a costume party, the conversations are youthfully banal. The eternal allure of lives relived rescues the tale, but this lukewarm effort is strictly for loyal fans. The best thing about time travel in Deveraux's world? Instant weight loss. Major ad/promo.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 350 pages
• Publisher: Atria; 1ST edition (May 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671014188
• ISBN-13: 978-0671014186
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (158 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #604,014 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jude Deveraux was once a fifth-grade teacher who loved to read. When her imagination began to be filled with her own stories to tell, her career as a writer began. Jude's novels have been set in both contemporary and historical periods. Her strong, lyrical writing style and ability to write stories with memorable characters, rich detail, and believable dialogue has garnered her many devoted readers.

Jude has had over thirty books on the New York Times bestsellers list, has over 60 million copies in print, and has been translated into 18 languages. When she's not writing, she enjoys reading murder mysteries, working in her garden, and in boxing class she likes to show much younger males that she can throw a mean right cross.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Time travel, romance, and a bit of murder., July 9, 2001

By 

Denise Bentley "Kelsana" (The California Redwoods) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Summerhouse (Hardcover)

This book has it all. Three women meet in a summerhouse in Maine for their fortieth birthday where they confront the past, only to secure a future that turns their worlds upside down.

Ellie, a famous writer, is trying to come to terms with a debilitating divorce. She is the instigator of the meeting. Madison is a bedraggled beauty queen never to be found without a cigarette in her mouth, her once glowing and dewy skin now gray and pale. Our third lady is Leslie, a wanna be dancer who trained and dreamed of the future as a young girl giving it all up for a family and station wagon in the suburbs.

Our ladies meet up with a strange woman on Everlasting Street who allows them to return to the past, how and why each of them does, is the stuff that books are made of. The results are cataclysmic to some and minor to others.

I love how this book played out. The author had several stories going at once all to lead to a grand conclusion. After reading Temptation I almost didn't pick this one up. I'm glad I did, it was an enjoyable summer read. Kelsana 7/9/01

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Refreshingly New Perspective, June 11, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Summerhouse (Hardcover)

Despite many of the mixed reviews I read here, I ordered this book anyway, and was very glad I did. I find Ms. Devereaux's work to be hit-and-miss, but overall enjoy her work quite a bit. This novel, however, was truly excellent. It helped me face my impending aging with the perspective that life is not over at 30, or 40, or 50, depite what many books, magazines and movies seem to tell us, and that we can start over or re-make our lives in whatever way we wish - even if we don't get to go back in time. These women were very rich creatures, had made mistakes as all of us do, and yet were given the opportunity to retrace their steps and right an ancient misstep - what a fantasy! I found Madison's story the most compelling and wished for more. This reminds me somewhat of Katherine Stone's work, in the development of such different stories at once, and I think we receive enough detail but each of these stories could easily fill its own book. Great read, you won't be able to stop turning the pages until you finish.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars just a touch of time travel......., November 28, 2001

By 

Barbara "Queen of her castle AND her home lib... (beautiful Charleston, SC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Summerhouse (Hardcover)

This isn't a normal read for me, but it was very good, It's a story about 3 women who met at the highway dept to renew their drivers licenses. About 20 years later, they re-unite to celebrate their shared birthdays and catch up on each others life events. During their reunion, they talk to Madam Zoya the futune teller/psychic who gives them a chance to go back into their life and change life's direction if they choose. Some choose to and some don't. It's interesting to watch lives take such different directions because of only 1 choice change.
This book will make the reader think about choices made and maybe choices not made and maybe choices wished were made.
The small amount of time travel was very interesting and imaginative.
It's a light read in my opinion with surprising twists til the very end. If you are a romance reader, this book will pull you right in.