Summer Reading is the story of three women whose disparate lives intersect in the Hamptons. Lissy Snyder, a beautiful emotionally needy newlywed, is the unwilling stepmother of her husband's hostile children. Her eavesdropping housecleaner, Michelle, a local, is resentful of the moneyed arrogance of the vacationing "invaders" and can't get a commitment from her fisherman boyfriend. Solitary, bookish Angela Graves, leader of The Page Turners, a book group attended by wealthy young summer residents, harbors the shameful memory of a disastrous affair she had long ago. Over the summer, Angela encourages her book group to identify with the heroines of novels by Trollope, Flaubert and Charlotte BrontÎ. But can reading, as she proposes, really influence the choices people make and even change the course of their lives?

Hilma Wolitzer is the author of several novels, including Hearts, Ending, and Tunnel of Love. She is a recipient of Guggenheim and NEA Fellowships, an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Barnes & Noble Writer for Writers Award. She has taught at the University of Iowa, New York University, and Columbia University. She lives in New York City.