Synopsis:
Summer has started in idyllic Sag Harbor. For Emma Mapson that means greeting guests at the front desk of The American Hotel. But one of the town’s most famous residents, artist Henry Wyatt, dies suddenly. And Emma is shocked to learn he left his waterfront home — a self-designed masterpiece filled with his work — to her teenage daughter, Penny.
Back in Manhattan, legendary art patron is Bea Winstead’s grief-stricken. Henry was her lifelong friend and former business partner. But grief turns to outrage at the news of his shocking bequest. How did unknown locals get their hands on Henry’s estate? Bea, with her devoted assistant Kyle in tow, descends on Sag Harbor determined to reclaim the house and preserve Henry’s legacy.
While Emma fights to defend her daughter’s inheritance, Bea discovers that Henry left a treasure trove of sketches scattered around town. With Penny’s reluctant help, Bea pieces them together to find a story hidden in plain sight: an illustration of their shared history with an unexpected twist that will change all of their lives.
Emma and Bea are forced to confront the past while facing a future that challenges everything they believe about love, fate, and family, drawn together in their battle for the house. An unexpected inheritance and a promise broken change four lives forever.
Review:
Author Jamie Brenner says she has “always loved reading and writing escapist books. Growing up in Philadelphia, she read the books of Judith Krantz and Jackie Collins before discovering Sidney Sheldon, Herman Wouk, and Nelson DeMille and continuing on to George Washington University for a degree in English. She moved to New York City to work at Harper Collins Publishers, as well as Barnes&Noble.com and Vogue.com, along the way becoming a fan of Emily Giffin and Elin Hilderbrand, among others. When she turned to writing full-time, she focused on “stories of mothers and daughters and girls with dreams and falling in love and big cities and small towns and obstacles and joy.”
Brenner follows up The Husband Hour with an ideal summer beach read set in Sag Harbor, New York. Emma Mapson is a native. Like her father before her, she has worked for years at The American Hotel where, as the front desk clerk, she welcomes guests and ensures that their needs are met during their stay. Famed artist Henry Wyatt has been a resident for a number of years and a regular in the hotel bar. However, when he dies suddenly, he leaves behind a mystery that dramatically touches not only Emma’s life, but that of her young daughter, Penny.
It seems that instead of leaving his estate to his best friend and former gallery partner, Bea Winstead, Henry bequeathed his architectural masterpiece, a lush waterfront home, as well as the remainder of his assets to Penny. Emma was aware, of course, that Penny and Henry had a special friendship. The elderly gentleman was serving as a mentor to Penny, a talented and budding artist. But she is shocked to her core to learn about Penny’s inheritance. Emma is not just stunned, she is bewildered, confused, and anxious. She has no idea how such assets should be managed and is understandably trepidatious about the implications for Penny’s future
Bea, a staple of the New York City art and social scene, is outraged and scandalized when she learns about Henry’s wishes. She is also deeply wounded and her pain causes her to convince herself that Emma and Penny somehow managed to coerce Henry into changing his will. She swoops into Sag Harbor with her assistant, Kyle. Worse, although she has no right to do so, imperiously takes up residence in Henry’s house.
Determined to uncover Henry’s secrets — and successfully contest the will — Bea embarks on a search for the truth. In the process, she learns that Henry created sketches — valuable in their own right — and left them all over town. Some are framed and hanging in the hotel bar, some are in the local museum . . . Eventually, Bea realizes that when pulled together and viewed in context, the sketches tell a story . . . one that Henry was certain Bea would piece together after his death because he knew her so well.
Drawing Home is a charming, emotionally rich, if predictable, tale about enemies finding commonality and coming together with a united purpose. Each of the five key characters — Emma, Penny, Bea, Kyle, and Henry — is fully developed with a rich and interesting backstory that informs his/her motivations and desires. The town of Sag Harbor is virtually a character in itself, owing to Brenner’s descriptions of its history, landmarks, and what it means to residents and visitors alike.
As the story progresses, Bea inches closer to solving the mystery. It becomes clear that Penny is the common denominator, Emma and Bea must come to grips with their own pasts in order to forge a meaningful future. As noted, the ending is fully predictable from the outset, but that does not detract from the enjoyment of experiencing the characters’ journeys.
Readers should abandon their preconceived notions about what it means to be a family, and throw Drawing Home into their beach bags. They won’t regret tagging along on Bea’s scavenger hunt with the irascible but, ultimately, endearing woman, along with Brenner’s other characters.
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