Hundred Summers (Williams)

Book Reviews
[A] fast-paced love story…the scorching sun illuminates a friend’s betrayal and reignites a romance.
Oprah Magazine


Summer of 1938: A scandalous love triangle and a famous hurricane converge in a New England beach community. Add in a betrayal between friends, a marriage for money, and a Yankee pitcher, and it’s a perfect storm.
Good Houskeeping


Born into post-Depression New York society, innocent, steadfast Lily Dane and fast, jazzy Budgie Byrne are best friends. It’s through Budgie that Lily meets Nicholson Greenwald, handsome, smart, charming.... Only now ex-fiance Nick and ex-bestie Budgie are Mr. and Mrs. Nick Greenwald..... When the great New England hurricane of 1938 makes landfall near the end, it feels less like a natural disaster and more like a convenient way to get the most problematic characters out of the way so true love can prevail.
Publishers Weekly


While Williams's new novel starts strongly, it becomes a bit mired in melodrama in the latter third. Lily makes for an appealing protagonist.... The problem is that only Lily and Nick are fleshed out as characters.... The lack of development of the supporting cast weakens the eventual exploration of just what happened. —Jane Jorgenson, Madison P.L., WI
Library Journal


Williams' sweeping saga of betrayal, sacrifice, and redemption trenchantly examines the often duplicitous nature of female friendships and family friendships.
Booklist


[T]he period story of a derailed love affair seen through a sequence of summers spent at Seaview, R.I.... "What went wrong?" between Lily Dane and good-looking-but-Jewish Nick Greenwald,...[and] how, seven years on, can Nick be married to Lily's BFF Budgie Byrne while Lily herself is single and accompanied by her 6-year-old sister, Kiki? The answer is teased out at length via parallel narratives set in 1931 and 1938, both voiced by Lily.... An elegant if somewhat old-fashioned delayed-gratification seaside romance with a flavor of Daphne du Maurier.
Kirkus Reviews