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.