A Second Home – Book Review

Author: Christina Clancy

Genre: Women’s Fiction

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Publication Date: June 2, 2020

Book Description: 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. 

Just when the sisters decide to sell, Michael re-enters their lives with a legitimate claim to the house. But more than that, he wants to set the record straight about that long ago summer. Reunited after years apart, these very different siblings must decide if they can continue to be a family—and the house just might be the glue that holds them together. 

Told through the shifting perspectives of Ann, Poppy, and Michael, this assured and affecting debut captures the ache of nostalgia for summers past and the powerful draw of the places we return to again and again. It is about second homes, second families, and second chances. Tender and compassionate, incisive and heartbreaking, The Second Home is the story of a family you’ll quickly fall in love with, and won’t soon forget.

Rating: 4 Stars

Review: If you love stories about complicated families, Christina Clancy provides a doozy in her debut novel. She provides an intricate tale of three siblings told in multiple points of views. ***Please note, there is a trigger warning for Sexual Assault. This is written in two parts, the Gordon siblings as teenagers and then as adults.

The Second Home is a vacation home in Cape Cod that the Gordon Family has had in the family for generations. This house has always held a ton of memories for this family. Ann, Michael and Poppy are your narrators. Michael was adopted by the Gordon’s at age 16 after his mother had passed. Ann and Poppy both vie for Michael’s affection but in very different ways. One night, their lives are forever altered.

We meet again 15 years later and their parents have died tragically in an accident. They have to deal with this beloved house. Each sibling has a different opinion of what should happen, and with no will they are each going to great lengths to get what they want.

Each narrator is extremely unreliable, and they are severely misled after that pivotal incident, and I think that is what I love most about this story. Clancy weaves this extremely intricate story. You will love and hate each character throughout. This is a fun ride for this genre, and you will savor every minute.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.