The Second Home
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A Novel
by Christina Clancy
On Sale: June 2, 2020
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Paperback: 352 Pages
Tender and compassionate, incisive and heartbreaking, Christina Clancy’s The Second Home is the story of a family you’ll quickly fall in love with, and won’t soon forget.
After a disastrous summer spent at her family summer home on Cape Cod, seventeen-year-old Ann Gordon was left with a secret that changed her life forever, and created a rift between her sister, Poppy, and their adopted brother, Michael.
Now, fifteen years later, her parents have died, leaving Ann and Poppy to decide the fate of the Wellfleet home that’s been in the Gordon family for generations. For Ann, the once-beloved house is tainted with bad memories. Poppy loves the old saltbox, but after years spent chasing waves around the world, she isn’t sure she knows how to stay in one place.
About the author
Like the characters in The Second Home, Christina Clancy spent the summers of her youth on Cape Cod in the rugged and artsy town of South Wellfleet, MA.
In addition to writing, she teaches spin classes (the sweating, not the weaving kind) and she taught English at Beloit College for almost a decade. She has been writing short stories and essays that have appeared in The New York Times “Modern Love” column, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Sun Magazine, and in literary journals like Glimmer Train Stories, Hobart, Pleiades, The Minnesota Review and on Wisconsin Public Radio. She has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
She lives in Madison, Wisconsin with her husband and two children, Olivia and Tim.
Praise
“With its fond descriptions of Cape Cod’s land and seascapes and an evocation of a historic house layered with love and secrets, Clancy’s debut clearly has its eye firmly set on the summer-read market.” ― Kirkus
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Christina Clancy writes with warmth, wit, and wisdom about fantastically human characters. A novel of family and place and belonging for fans of Ann Packer and J. Courtney Sullivan.” ―Rebecca Makkai, Pulitzer Prize finalist for The Great Believers
“I gobbled The Second Home in a matter of days, fully invested in the history, hurt, and hopes of this very human family. Christina Clancy writes with empathy and rich detail: to read about the Gordons is to smell the pine and oak of Wellfleet, to tread the well-worn rooms of their eccentric summer home, and to learn all sides of the explosive rift that sent them hurtling in different directions. Tender and suspenseful, Clancy’s debut explores the nature of home as well as the nature of family itself―given and chosen.” ―Chloe Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of The Immortalists
“A sure-footed ode to the strength of family, the depth of loss, and the power of forgiveness.” ―J. Ryan Stradal, New York Times best-selling author, Kitchens of the Great Midwest
“The Second Home shows us how families are knit together and how they unravel; how a place―a geography, a house―can act as the repository for our best and most important memories. And that even the most damaged past can be reclaimed, a hard-won wisdom that shines through on every page.” ―Jean Thompson, New York Times bestselling author of The Year We Left Home
“Clancy imagines her complicated characters with such empathy and precision that every questionable choice, every mistake, feels like the only option. The Second Home is a big, sprawling, smart, beautiful story about love and betrayal, home and family, and the foundations of forgiveness.” ―Lauren Fox, author of Days of Awe, Friends Like Us, and Still Life With Husband
“Christina Clancy writes with an arresting vividness and a nuanced understanding of her characters, who are buffeted by a storm of conflicting desires. A poignant but also very entertaining novel―full of startling detail, humor, and above all, an abiding sympathy for its beautifully drawn characters.” ―Christine Sneed, author of Little Known Facts
“This deeply moving and heartfelt book explores what makes a home – and how homes make us. It’s deftly plotted, sensuously told, and incredibly smart about the secrets that pull families apart and the love that knits them back together.” ―Liam Callanan, author of Paris by the Book.
“Every Wellfleet sand dune, every breeze and beach and pond, came alive for me in this beautiful, heartbreaking debut about a Milwaukee family’s complicated history with their summer home. Christina Clancy’s characters are so real and flawed, so caught between the darkness and the light, that they step right off the page, and you won’t rest until you know what becomes of them.” ―Meg Mitchell Moore, author of The Admissions and The Islanders
“From the first pages of The Second Home, it’s abundantly clear that Christina Clancy has an abiding love for outer Cape Cod, which she conjures in all its bluster and beauty. But as this compelling novel progresses, it also becomes obvious that Clancy has a keen awareness of how secrets can tear apart even the closest of families. Drawn in by the exquisitely-rendered setting, I was riveted by this stirring, family drama.”―Karen Dukess, author of The Last Book Party
“Warm, absorbing and thought-provoking…” ― Shelf Awareness
“A riveting family saga that fans of J. Courtney Sullivan, Cristina Alger, and Maria de los Santos will devour, Clancy’s debut novel is a delight. With nostalgia as thick as the scent of coconut-scented sunscreen, The Second Home explores the consequences of emotional decisions and the strength needed to set things right.”―Booklist (starred review)
“Transporting…Clancy’s beach-ready debut is sure to be a favorite with book clubs.” ― Publisher’s Weekly
“Witty and compassionate, this is the page-turning saga, unfolding in several voices, of two sisters, their estranged adopted brother and the dispute that arises 15 years after their parents’ death.” ― Naples Daily News
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