1956: On idyllic Balboa Island, just off the California coast, life seems peaceful and welcoming. But when the lives of three women begin to unravel in shockingly different ways, an unlikely friendship—and the game of tennis—may be the only thing that can save them.
Milly Kinkaid's plan to fix her crumbling marriage seems to be falling apart before it even begins. She believed that moving her young family from Hollywood to Balboa Island might entice her increasingly distant husband to come home earlier after work. Instead, he's barely coming home at all.
Society matriarch Sylvia Johnson and her husband have been pillars of their community for decades, and have just recently begun a new business venture: The Island Club, a place for members to swim, play tennis and dine in style. But when she learns that he has been risking their financial security and putting their family's future in grave danger, she's not only poised to lose the club, but the entire community she holds dear.
Meanwhile, standoffish loner Adele Lambert's entire world is on the brink of being destroyed if the dark secrets of her past and her hidden identity is revealed. Twenty years ago, she ran from a shameful scandal and left behind the only thing she ever loved. Now, terrified that the anonymity she's spent decades guarding will be exposed, but desperate to stay afloat, she risks everything to return to the game that brought her to her knees all those years before.
Set against the sun-drenched beaches of Balboa Island, with its prim and proper 1950s facade, The Island Club is a story of love, loneliness and the lies we tell ourselves—and what can be gained when the truth is finally revealed. - publisher's website
It’s 80 degrees this afternoon in NY and I am starting to feel summer on the horizon! If you’re looking for the perfect summer read, you will want to pick up The Island Club by Nicola Harrison. I was lucky enough to be gifted an ARC by the publisher, St. Martin’s Press and once I started it, I couldn’t put it down. The Island Club has something for everyone, it’s a delightful story of friendship and self-discovery set in a vacation resort town in the 1950s with strong female characters (Milly, Sylvia and Adele), dishy secrets, and tennis! While the novel is set in the 1950s some themes are timeless, it’s great to see how we’ve progressed as a society in some areas, yet it also glimpses at the unfortunate stagnancy in others. I left this novel wishing that I too could pick up a racket and grab a cocktail with Milly, Sylvia and Adele!
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for providing the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. The Island Club by Nicola Harrison officially releases on 04/28/26 but you can pre-order your copy now at your favorite bookstore or online shop. You can also check out the publisher's webiste, linked above, for more information.
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