Friends, I don’t know about you, but 2025 has been complicated for me. I find it helps to be intentional about doing what soothes our souls – such as reading a great book! Summer in Rhode Island is glorious and here’s a collection of some of the books and authors who will visit our Ocean House Author Series in the coming months.
Watch Hill’s own Jim Pierce will join us on July 2 to discuss The Beginning, a work that takes readers on a journey into Winston Churchill’s world, set in the tumultuous years of 1940 and 1941. From the very first day he became prime minister, Churchill faced relentless challenges. Through historical fiction, the author skillfully transports readers back to these pivotal events, personalizing the experience and bringing history to life.
On July 9, we welcome New York Times bestseller Mary Alice Monroe back to the Ocean House with her historical novel, Where the Rivers Merge. Tracking the life of Eliza Rivers, the novel sweeps the 20th century at Mayfield, a grand Lowcountry Carolina estate. This story of unyielding love, lessons learned, and the profound sacrifices follows a woman determined to persevere in the face of change in order to protect her family legacy and the land she loves.
Nationally bestselling author and Rhode Island’s own Jessa Maxwell will join us on Wednesday, July 23. Her delicious new thriller, Dead of Summer, is set on a remote New England island. When Orla O’Conner returns to clean out her parents’ house to sell it, locals talk and stare. Soon, Orla can no longer avoid seeking answers to the disappearance of Alice, her best friend in high school, the thing that has kept her away from Hadley Island for years.
Beatriz Williams is back! Her newest novel, Under the Stars, invites readers back to Winthrop Island, and the author herself returns to the Ocean House on August 6. A devastating secret haunts the women of an old New England Family. In this richly woven tale, the destinies of three women converge across centuries, as a harrowing true disaster at the dawn of the steamship era evokes a complex legacy of family secrets in modern-day New England.
A Harvard-trained neuroscientist and New York Times bestselling author, Lisa Genova always delivers a fresh perspective on the human mind. Join us on August 13 when we discuss her latest work, More or Less Maddy, a riveting novel about a young woman diagnosed with bipolar disorder who rejects the stability and approval found in a traditionally “normal” life for a career in stand-up comedy.
On August 20, we welcome Wilbur Ross with his memoir, Risks and Returns: Creating Success in Business and Life. Already known as the “King of Bankruptcy” in his 55-year career on Wall Street, Ross joined the first Trump administration in 2017 as Secretary of Commerce (a role later played by Rhode Island’s former governor, Gina Raimondo, under Biden). Rising from humble origins, Ross applied discipline and hard work to live a life up close to many of the seminal events of recent decades.
New York Times bestseller Karen White joins us on August 27 with That Last Carolina Summer, a novel about sisterhood, secrets, and one woman’s reckoning with the past. Phoebe Manigault’s lightning strike as a child left her with mysterious dreams. When she is summoned home to care for her ailing mother, she connects with Celeste, a woman whose grandson disappeared years ago in this unforgettable family drama about unbreakable bonds and the gift of second chances.
We wrap up summer on September 3 with Whatever Happened to Lori Lovely?, Sarah McCoy’s poignant novel about a 1960s movie star who chucks it all for the cloistered life of a nun. Posing the big question of who we are – bodies with souls or souls inhabiting human bodies – McCoy deftly weaves a tale of old Hollywood glamor and romance mixed in with more mystical yearnings. What did happen to Lori Lovely and why did she let it all go?
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