The House on Fripp Island

Rebecca Kauffman

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020 - Fiction - 336 pages

A taut, page-turning novel of secrets and strife. When two families--one rich, one not--vacation together off the coast of South Carolina, little do they know that someone won't be returning home.

Fripp Island, South Carolina is the perfect destination for the wealthy Daly family: Lisa, Scott, and their two girls. For Lisa's childhood friend, Poppy Ford, the resort island is a world away from the one she and Lisa grew up in--and when Lisa invites Poppy's family to join them, how can a working-class woman turn down an all-expenses paid vacation for her husband and children?

But everyone brings secrets to the island, distorting what should be a convivial, relaxing summer on the beach. Lisa sees danger everywhere--the local handyman can't be allowed near the children, and Lisa suspects Scott is fixated on something, or someone, else. Poppy watches over her husband John and his routines with a sharp eye. It's a summer of change for all of the children: Ryan Ford who prepares for college in the fall, Rae Daly who seethes on the brink of adulthood, and the two youngest, Kimmy Daly and Alex Ford, who are exposed to new ideas and different ways of life as they forge a friendship of their own. Those who return from this vacation will spend the rest of their lives trying to process what they witnessed, the tipping points, moments of violence and tenderness, and the memory of whom they left behind.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - Jynell - LibraryThing

Two families, one rich and one poor, join each other for a 4-day stay at a beach house on some remote island. Almost 75% of the book is setting the stage for the ending, detailing some of the ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - smik - LibraryThing

We know from the very beginning that someone has drowned, but not until near the end just who the victim is. We even know that it is murder, but not who is responsible. But even so, the murder really ...

Contents

• 1: 1
• 2: 11
• 3: 42
• 4: 59
• 5: 77
• 6: 81
• 7: 104
• 8: 116
• 9: 136
• 10: 156
• 11: 182
• 12: 194
• 13: 205
• 14: 220
• 15: 234
• 16: 245
• 17: 261
• 18: 262
• 19: 271
• 20: 276
• 21: 278
• 22: 280
• 23: 286
• 24: 289
• 25: 293
• 26: 303
• Back Matter: 310
• Back Flap: 321
• Back Cover: 322
• Spine: 323

About the author

Rebecca Kauffman received her MFA in creative writing from New York University. She is the author of The Gunners and Another Place You've Never Been, which was long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Originally from rural northeastern Ohio, she now lives in Virginia.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The House on Fripp Island
• Author: Rebecca Kauffman
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020
• ISBN: 035804152X, 9780358041528
• Length: 336 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Family Life / Marriage & Divorce; Fiction / Family Life / Siblings; Fiction / Literary