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A Novel
by Katie Runde
A mother and her two daughters spend a summer grappling with heartbreak, young love, and the weight of secrets in this "deeply felt family saga" (Entertainment Weekly) hailed as "one of the best beach reads of all time" (Today).
Brian and Margot Dunne live year-round in Seaside, just steps away from the bustling boardwalk, with their daughters Liz and Evy. The Dunnes run a real estate company, making their living by quickly turning over rental houses for tourists. But the family's future becomes precarious when Brian develops a brain tumor, transforming into an erratic version of himself. Amidst the chaos and new caretaking responsibilities, Liz still seeks out summer adventure and flirting with a guy she should know better than to pursue. Her younger sister Evy works in a candy shop, falls in love with her friend Olivia, and secretly adopts the persona of a middle-aged mom in an online support group, where she discovers her own mother's vulnerable confessions. Meanwhile, Margot faces an impossible choice driven by grief, impulse, and the ways that small-town life has shaped her. Falling apart is not an option, but she can always pack up and leave the beach behind.
"An emotional family drama...with endearing characters and deep insights" (Glamour), The Shore is a heartbreaking yet ultimately uplifting novel infused with humor about finding sisterhood, friendship, and love in a time of crisis. This big-hearted novel examines the grit and hustle of running a small business in a tourist town, the ways we connect with strangers when our families can't give us everything we need, and the comfort found in embracing the pleasures of youth while coping with unimaginable loss.
"A comforting debut on family and finding resilience in the face of sorrow." —Booklist
"Runde's debut is a heartbreaking family journey; a summer read that is at once sad, hopeful, frustrating, and ultimately uplifting." —Library Journal
"Vivid... . Runde's evocative descriptions conjure the salty humidity of the Jersey Shore... . this transportive work successfully captures the dissonance and resilience of family." —Publishers Weekly
"Runde's sympathetic portrait of a family in crisis is not without humor and insight... . this family story is sweet, sad, and surprising." —Kirkus Reviews
"The Shore is a sharp and affecting novel, a wholly original exploration of what it means to love and lose set against a fabulously vibrant backdrop. Runde's writing is both deeply felt and deeply funny—often in the same breath." —Claire Lombardo, author of The Most Fun We Ever Had
"An intimate, tender story about love and loss and moving on. The beautifully flawed, funny, complex Dunne family will stay with you long after the book is finished."—Tracey Lange, author of We Are the Brennans
This information about The Shore was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Katie Runde grew up on the Jersey Shore, where her family ran various boardwalk businesses. She holds an MFA from Warren Wilson College and lives in Iowa City with her husband and two daughters. The Shore is her first novel.
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