The year is 1976, and the family --- Frank McKotch, an eminent scientist; his pedigreed wife, Paulette; and their three beautiful children --- has embarked on its annual vacation at the Captain’s House, the grand old family retreat on Cape Cod. One day on the beach, Frank is struck by an image he cannot forget: his thirteen-year-old daughter, Gwen, strangely infantile in her child-sized bikini, standing a full head shorter than her younger cousin Charlotte. At the moment he knows a truth that he can never again unknown --- something is terribly wrong with his only daughter. The McKotch family will never be the same.

THE CONDITION tells the story of the McKotches, a proper New England family that comes apart during one fateful summer. The year is 1976, and the family --- Frank McKotch, an eminent scientist; his pedigreed wife, Paulette; and their three beautiful children --- has embarked on its annual vacation at the Captain’s House, the grand old family retreat on Cape Cod. One day on the beach, Frank is struck by an image he cannot forget: his thirteen-year-old daughter, Gwen, strangely infantile in her child-sized bikini, standing a full head shorter than her younger cousin Charlotte. At the moment he knows a truth that he can never again unknown --- something is terribly wrong with his only daughter. The McKotch family will never be the same.

Twenty years after Gwen’s diagnosis with Turner’s syndrome --- a genetic condition that has prevented her from maturing, trapping her forever in the body of a child --- all five family members are still dealing with the fallout. Each believes himself crippled by some secret pathology; each feels responsible for the family’s demise. Frank and Paulette are acrimoniously divorced. Billy, the eldest son, is dutiful but distant --- a handsome Manhattan cardiologist with a life built on compromise. His brother, Scott, awakens from a pot-addled adolescence to a soul-killing job, a regrettable marriage, and a vinyl-sided tract house in the suburbs. And Gwen is silent and emotionally aloof, a bright, accomplished woman who spurns any interaction with those around her. She makes peace with the hermetic life she’s constructed --- until, well into her thirties, she falls in love for the first time. And suddenly, once again, the family’s world is tilted on its axis.

Compassionate yet unflinchingly honest, witty and almost painfully astute, THE CONDITION explores the power of family mythologies --- the self-delusions, denials, and inescapable truths that forever bind fathers and mothers and siblings.

From the New York Times bestselling author of MOON SHELL BEACH --- a moving new novel about an unexpectedly magical summer for three generations of women.

From the New York Times bestselling author of MOON SHELL BEACH --- a moving new novel about an unexpectedly magical summer for three generations of women.

At thirty, Charlotte Wheelwright remains the dreamer she’s always been. But when she begins an organic garden on a portion of her grandmother’s land, Charlotte learns to plant her feet in solid ground and begins to build a new life.

More often than not, ninety-year-old Nona Wheelwright contentedly spends her time reminiscing about days gone by. But with her family’s annual reunion and financial meeting looming, Nona must give up her days of quiet solitude to soothe her easily riled up family.

For decades Charlotte’s mother, Helen, who married into the illustrious Wheelwright family, has been pressured to adhere to their way of life. But when, during the course of the family’s annual summer retreat, she discovers her husband’s betrayal, Helen wonders if she sacrificed her dreams for the wrong reasons.

Artfully written and set on the glorious island of Nantucket, Nancy Thayer’s SUMMER HOUSE is a vibrant and stirring novel about family, love, and daily choices that affect entire lives.

When lonely corporate wife Joanna Harrison runs away to Pawleys Island, she has no idea what happens next. But as a new life takes root, thanks to a passionate fisherman and a commitment to save endangered turtles, demands from her old life may force her to return.

When lonely corporate wife Joanna Harrison runs away to Pawleys Island, she has no idea what happens next. But as a new life takes root, thanks to a passionate fisherman and a commitment to save endangered turtles, demands from her old life may force her to return. THE RICHEST SEASON is a stunning debut that will resonate with any woman who’s ever fantasized about leaving home to find herself.

One day in early spring, Dorrit Weger is checked into the Second Reserve Bank Unit for biological material. She is promised a nicely furnished apartment inside the Unit, where she will make new friends, enjoy the state-of-the-art recreation facilities, and live the remaining days of her life in comfort with people who are just like her. Here, women over the age of fifty and men over sixty --- single, childless, and without jobs in progressive industries --- are sequestered for their final years; they are considered outsiders.

One day in early spring, Dorrit Weger is checked into the Second Reserve Bank Unit for biological material. She is promised a nicely furnished apartment inside the Unit, where she will make new friends, enjoy the state-of-the-art recreation facilities, and live the remaining days of her life in comfort with people who are just like her. Here, women over the age of fifty and men over sixty --- single, childless, and without jobs in progressive industries --- are sequestered for their final years; they are considered outsiders. In the Unit they are expected to contribute themselves for drug and psychological testing, and ultimately donate their organs, little by little, until the final donation. Despite the ruthless nature of this practice, the ethos of this near-future society and the Unit is to take care of others, and Dorrit finds herself living under very pleasant conditions: well-housed, well-fed, and well-attended. She is resigned to her fate and discovers her days there to be rather consoling and peaceful. But when she meets a man inside the Unit and falls in love, the extraordinary becomes a reality and life suddenly turns unbearable. Dorrit is faced with compliance or escape, and…well, then what?

THE UNIT is a gripping exploration of a society in the throes of a system geared toward eliminating those who do not contribute by conventional means, in which the “dispensable” ones are convinced under gentle coercion of the importance of sacrificing for the “necessary” ones. It also looks deeply into the nature of the female psyche, at its resilience and creativity under dire conditions. Ninni Holmqvist has created a debut novel of humor, sorrow, and rage, that explores love, the close bonds of friendship, and a cynical, utilitarian way of thinking disguised as care.