The Summer I Dared: A Novel

Set on an island off the coast of Maine, this novel follows three survivors of a boating accident that killed ten other people. Julia Bechtel, a forty-year-old wife and mother, has always chosen the easiest path, shaped by her controlling family and distant husband. After the accident, she begins to question the life she has accepted. Julia feels drawn to Noah Prine, a divorced lobsterman who helped save her, and to Kim Colella, a twenty-one-year-old whose role in the accident remains unclear and who has become mute. As Julia spends time on Big Sawyer, Maine, her priorities shift. She discovers an inner strength she did not know she possessed and becomes determined to reshape her life. The novel explores how each of the three survivors processes trauma and how they affect one another. Set in a community of lobstermen and island neighbors, it examines survival, emotional healing, and the human capacity to rebuild after disaster.