Product Description

One summer a group of strangers - each with their own reason for wanting to step out of their busy life - meet at rented beachouse in sunny Nantucket. There's Daniel, who's causing heartbreak for his wife Bee; recently divorced Daff, who feels she's lost touch with her daughter Jess; and Michael - son of the house's mischievous , free-spirited owner Nan - who is having an ill-advised fling with his boss. With so many lost souls gathered under one roof, very soon there are tears and laughter, friendship and - for some - even love. Each one of them is hoping for a new beginning. But will any of them find it?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2469 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-11
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Review
'A corker of a story, sharply and elegantly told' Heat 'Fizzing with fast-and-furious dialogue, this is vintage Green' Eve

About the Author
Jane Green is a former journalist who gave up her job on the Daily Express to write a real womanÂ’s account of being single in the city. That account became JaneÂ’s first novel, Straight Talking. A huge success, Straight Talking was followed by eight more bestselling novels: Jemima J, Mr Maybe, Bookends, Babyville, Spellbound, The Other Woman, Life Swap and Second Chance. Jane has four children and lives in Connecticut.

Customer Reviews

Perfect beach reading
Nan is a feisty and eccentric 65 year old widow, who has lived alone for many years in a large house in Nantucket. Rather than selling her house, she decides to rent out some of the rooms for the summer. The book is about the people who come to live with her, all of whom have their own problems and the way that they all come together. It's a warm hearted and easy book - not one that will stay with you particularly, but an excellent summer read that hooks you in quickly and keeps moving at a good pace right through to the end.

I've read a couple of Jane Green's early novels (Babyville and The Other Woman) and enjoyed them. "The Beach House" is quite different. It's still a light and enjoyable read but it's a change in style (no young women having relationship issues in London). Having said that, I still enjoyed it: it's just different, to the point where I wouldn't have guessed it was a Jane Green novel. Interestingly enough, I read an interview with Jane Green where she commented on the fact that when she wrote her early novels she was in an unhappy marriage and the unhappy protagonists reflected her own state of mind. Now she is in a much more settled place and hence this book about coming home and having peace.

A book from a couple of summers back that is in a similar vein (including the Nantucket setting) is Barefoot

Easy reading but cloyingly sweet...
I have read most of Jane Green's novels and loved every one, finding the characters empathetic and interesting. This book is light and easy reading but also irritating at times. The characters are mostly too good to be true - although their behaviour is not always good, inside they are sentimental to the point of being sickly. Nan is so perfect that to me it does not make her a believeable character, and the book is full of amazing coincidences that also defy belief. It doesn't matter if all you want is escapism, but it does make it a little hard to relate to.

Don't bother if you liked Jane Green's earlier novels
If you're looking for an easy read to pass the time, that will not make you think or feel anything, then you won't go far wrong.

However, if like me, you bought this because you liked Jane Green's earlier novels, like the poignant Straight Talking and the layered, thoughtful Bookends, then don't bother. The Beach House is cloying and facile, with implausible plots an caricatures for characters.

I also don't know when Jane Green started to base her novels in the US, but she can't escape anglicisms - a Nantucket grande dame would never say "Oh you are a love" when brought a cup of tea, no matter how many ancestors she had on the Mayflower.