Lady Sunshine: A Novel

by Amy Mason Doan

Overview

“A delicious daydream of a book.” —Elin Hilderbrand, New York Times bestselling author of 28 Summers

“With lyrical writing and a page-turning plot, this sun-dappled book has it all: heart, smarts, and an irresistible musical beat.” —Karen Dukess, author of The Last Book Party

ONE ICONIC FAMILY. ONE SUMMER OF SECRETS. THE DAZZLING SPIRIT OF 1970S CALIFORNIA.

For Jackie Pierce, everything changed the summer of 1979, when she spent three months of infinite freedom at her bohemian uncle’s sprawling estate on the California coast. As musicians, artists, and free spirits gathered at The Sandcastle for the season in pursuit of inspiration and communal living, Jackie and her cousin Willa fell into a fast friendship, testing their limits along the rocky beach and in the wild woods... until the summer abruptly ended in tragedy, and Willa silently slipped away into the night.

Twenty years later, Jackie unexpectedly inherits The Sandcastle and returns to the iconic estate for a short visit to ready it for sale. But she reluctantly extends her stay when she learns that, before her death, her estranged aunt had promised an up-and-coming producer he could record a tribute album to her late uncle at the property’s studio. As her musical guests bring the place to life again with their sun-drenched beach days and late-night bonfires, Jackie begins to notice startling parallels to that summer long ago. And when a piece of the past resurfaces and sparks new questions about Willa’s disappearance, Jackie must discover if the dark secret she’s kept ever since is even the truth at all.

“An engrossing tale of secrets, memory, music, and the people and places you can never outrun. A fantastic summer read.”
—Laura Dave, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Thing He Told Me

“This book is gorgeous. A gold-drenched, nostalgic dream with a fierce female friendship at its heart.”
—Marisa de los Santos, New York Times bestselling author of I'll Be Your Blue Sky

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781525804670
Publisher:	Graydon House Books
Publication date:	06/29/2021
Edition description:	Original
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	394,342
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

AMY MASON DOAN is the author of The Summer List, Summer Hours, and Lady Sunshine. She earned a BA in English from UC Berkeley and an MA in journalism from Stanford University, and has written for The Oregonian, San Francisco Chronicle, and Forbes, among other publications. She grew up in Danville, California, and now lives in Portland, Oregon, with her family.

Editorial Reviews

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR LADY SUNSHINE

“Amy Mason Doan creates a whole world and mood with her exquisitely crafted novel, Lady Sunshine. It’s replete with late-’70s nostalgia, and Doan masterfully renders the lives of musicians and those who are drawn to them, no matter the price. A delicious daydream of a book.”
—Elin Hilderbrand, New York Times bestselling author of 28 Summers

“Fans of Crossing California and Daisy Jones and the Six will be enamored with the world of Lady Sunshine.”
—Booklist

“This gorgeous book is part gold-drenched, nostalgic dream, part ingeniously spun mystery, but what I love best is the female friendship at its heart. Loyal, loving, and fiercely true to each other, Jackie and Willa will remind you of the times in your life when friendship was everything, when two girls together could make an entire world.”
—Marisa de los Santos, New York Times bestselling author of I'll Be Your Blue Sky

“With a winning combination of lyrical writing and a page-turning plot, Amy Mason Doan chronicles the evolution and mysterious demise of the friendship between two young women at the California estate-cum-commune of a renowned musician. A tone-perfect evocation of the free-spirited late 1970s and a riveting coming-of-age story, Lady Sunshine captures the highs of artistic creation, the dangers of hero worship, and the costs of trying to outrun your past. This sun-dappled book has it all: heart, smarts, and an irresistible musical beat.”
—Karen Dukess, author of The Last Book Party

“In Lady Sunshine, Amy Mason Doan has crafted an engrossing tale of secrets, memory, music, and the people and places you can never outrun. This novel will transport you to the ‘70s and summertime magic and a long-overdue reckoning. A fantastic summer read.”
—Laura Dave, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Thing He Told Me

“Amy Mason Doan dazzles in this epic story of a family torn apart by secrets. Haunting and vivid, with layered, complex characters and a setting that sparkles with detail, Lady Sunshine will stay with me for a long time.”
—Julie Clark, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Flight

“Lady Sunshine is shot through with free love, hope, and all the magic of the ‘70s, but under the sun and music lie dark secrets. It’s a thrilling ride, a beautiful evocation of an era, and a story that will keep readers entranced from the first page to the last.”
—Rene Denfeld, bestselling author of The Child Finder

“Amy Mason Doan offers a refreshing story about music, family secrets and forgiveness…Jumping between 1979 and 1999, Lady Sunshine unfolds with an artful combination of lyrical writing and twisting plot.”
—BookPage

“From inspiration to publication, music and nostalgia make Lady Sunshine a feel-good book.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

“Doan has created a classic summer read in Lady Sunshine.”
—The Oregonian

From the Publisher

12/01/2021

Doan has shaped two main characters in two different time periods. In 1999, Jackie returns to her uncle's home to pack it up and sell after the death of her aunt, who was the last person alive in their immediate family. Jackie spends the summer in the home reliving her time as a teen there in the 1970s. She and her cousin, Willa, were the same age and became close friends back then. On first sight, this novel might seem like other flashback-in-time stories, but readers are in for quite a surprise because this story twists and turns through the 20-year journey to enlighten the older Jackie as well as reveal key secrets and misunderstandings that have haunted her for decades. The characters are flawed but likable and genuine. VERDICT Readers of realistic fiction and suspense will not be able to put the book down after they realize the mystery that must be unraveled for Jackie and Willa to find peace.—April Sanders, Texas A&M Commerce, TX

School Library Journal

2021-03-31
After she unexpectedly inherits a remote Northern California coastal estate that once belonged to her musician uncle, a woman in her late 30s must make peace with the memories of her lost family.

In the summer of 1979, Jackie is an angry teenager. She hates her private school, the fellow students who call her Supertramp, her father’s new wife, and the fact that her new stepmother is besotted with purchasing everything for her in various cheerful shades of yellow. When her father and stepmother decide on a belated summerlong European honeymoon, Jackie makes a push to stay with her uncle Graham, Aunt Angela, and cousin Willa at the Sandcastle, their rambling Northern California estate, where musicians and their families come and go. Once she arrives, she realizes that her godlike uncle, a once-famous folk musician, is the sun around which all the people in his life orbit. In 1999, Jackie is once again at the estate, clearing out the house and its many cabins after unexpectedly inheriting it from her aunt. No longer angry, Jackie is an elementary school music teacher in Boston. She's devoted to her students, but she's walled herself off emotionally from everyone else, including her fiance, Paul. Much like that idyllic summer of 1979, in the summer of '99, the estate is full of musicians and people and laughter, as music producer Shane Ingram, a friend of Angela’s, records a new album of Graham’s unpublished work in his legendary basement studio. Author Doan has created a story that is half set in each world as Jackie clears out the house for sale in 1999 while working through her memories of the one idyllic summer she spent drenched in love, happiness, and sunlight before everything went very wrong. Doan’s descriptions of the rugged landscape in Humboldt County create a visually rich backdrop for her characters to inhabit.

A well-written, well-paced novel that unfolds slowly, hinting at the events that broke apart a young woman's life.

Kirkus Reviews