One of my all time favorite reads is Summerhouse by Jude Deveroux. I just adore the writing, the images that come to mind as I read about this incredible house – but even more than the house – much more than the house, it is about friendships and second chances. The title speaks to me.
Earlier this week I seen a great feature by Kay at The Infinite Shelf about different books with the same title. I found that fascinating. Tonight I decided to try that with Summerhouse and I am amazed at what I found! Here are the books called Summerhouse that I found in a quick search:
My Fav…. so we shall call this Summerhouse #1:
Synopsis: Three best friends, all turning forty, celebrate at a summerhouse in Maine — and take stock of their lives, loves, and choices. A mysterious “Madame Zoya” now arrives, offering them a chance to relive any three weeks from the past.
This is Summerhouse #2….this one I have seen everywhere on book blogs. New release, 
looks good. And check it out! Three great covers!
Synopsis: After years of wandering from whim to whim, thirty-year-old Charlotte Wheelwright seems to have at last found her niche. The free spirit enjoys running an organic gardening business on the island of Nantucket, thanks in large part to her spry grandmother Nona, who donated a portion of land on the family’s seaside compound to get Charlotte started. Though Charlotte’s skill with plants is bringing her success, cultivating something deeper with people–particularly her handsome neighbor Coop–might be more of a challenge.
This one, #3… was released to the US in 1997
Synopsis: When successful industrialist Alfred Dunstan arrives in the Lake District to build his family a mansion, it seems to fifteen-year-old Chrissie Ascham that something new, exciting, and more than a little unnerving has entered her life. For nothing in her carefully governed childhood – not even an amateur botanist mother or an abstracted Renaissance-obsessed father – has prepared her for the sheer raw energy of the Dunstans. Before long, she has been drawn into a world dominated by Alfred’s tyranny and his implacable war with his son, Jack – not to mention his daughter Beatrice’s passionate lust for the good things in life and the childlike gentleness of his neglected and beautiful wife, Letty. A trip to view the cultural glories of Venice turns into a sensual awakening – not only for unworldly, reflective Chrissie, but for Letty Dunstan also – setting off a spiraling sequence of passion, tragedy, and betrayal involving wartime treachery, slow and seductive blackmail, and thirty of the world’s most fabulous pearls…during the last sultry, unheeding summer before the outbreak of the Great War.
Summer House #4…. this one looks good
Synopsis: She made a life with one man—but always loved another at…The Summer House.
Jean Stone captured readers’ imaginations with the “graceful prose, vivid imagery and compassionately drawn characters” (Publishers Weekly) of novels like Tides of the Heart and Places by the Sea. Now, in her latest novel, she reveals the public scandals of a family destined for political greatness—and the private secrets of a woman who traded her childhood dreams for a role she was born to play….
Summerhouse #5… what a cute looking book!
Synopsis: When Grandma laughs, everybody laughs! Everyone, that is, except Ella. She’s a very serious girl. Until the day when Grandma says to her, “You have to find some sunshine inside yourself–even when it’s winter”. And she gives her granddaughter the key to the summerhouse–a world of warmth and sunshine. Full color.
Summerhouse #6…. I love this cover!
Synopsis: 1918. Young Lady Helen Barstairs, the dutiful daughter of Lord Hardingham, believes everything her mother and father tell her. So when her parents say she will never find a better husband than Richard – ‘brave, handsome, wealthy, such a charming man and quite a catch’ – she believes them, and agrees to marry him before his return to the Front. Helen hopes the letters they exchange will allow them to get to know one another but over time, Richard’s correspondence becomes increasingly cold and distant, and Helen begins to wonder just who this man she has married really is. And that’s when Oliver Donovan enters her life.Helen knew embarking on an affair was not a wise decision but, for the first time in her life, Helen knew what it felt like to be in love. With the war continuing on foreign shores, Oliver had to return to his regiment – and was never seen again. Learning she is with child, Helen confesses all to her shocked parents, who force her to give up her baby. She vows to find her child again one day. Over twenty years pass and it seems history is about to repeat itself; a new war has begun, and another young woman is about to lose her heart to a serviceman – Can lessons of the past save the heartache of a new generation?
Summerhouse #7: This one is in Ukraine… hmmm… I have friends who are in Ukraine right now….
Synopsis: Rose Fell’s friends think she’s taking a big risk when she leaves the security of home and career to move to the beautiful but isolated village of Grosso, near Genoa. But after a year of emotional turmoil Rose no longer has any ties back home, and she relishes the challenges of a new start.Making a home, however, in the ravishing, haunted landscape of Italy’s Riviera coast turns out to be lonelier than Rose had anticipated.
Summerhouse #8: I just dont like the cover on this one
Synopsis: Helen is persuaded to take a fellow actress home with her to the sprawling, crumbling summer house in Scotland where her ailing father lives in self-imposed isolation. Will Ruth, this new-found friend, be the answer to Helen’s problems….?
#9 Ok…. this one is really Summer’s House so not an exact match….
Synopsis: In Eric Gabriel Lehman’s luminous and compelling novel, Summer’s House, three characters who each inhabit a very different aspect of New York City each find themselves searching for a place where they truly belong. Raymond, an overly cerebral seventeen-year-old, has decided it’s time for him to fall in love yet struggles with his own desires. Jerome is an unrecognized poet obsessed with the woman who threw him out when he uncovered her past. Raymond’s Uncle Lester, an uncomfortable suburbanite, is tormented by his failing business and his wife’s obscene caller. One hot summer in the 1970’s, their lives intersect, collide, pull apart and irreversibly change.
#10 I dont think I would like this one…. but it is part of the Summerhouse set
Synopsis: Margaret and Syl are getting married. Alas for Margaret, who views her impending union with the odious Syl in the same way a ship must view a shipwreck. Alas for Mrs. Monro, Syl’s mother, who harbors severe doubts about the entire male gender–not least of all her son. Alas for Lili, the high-spirited temptress who is willing to do anything to prevent this disastrous misalliance, even if that means sacrificing herself.
Ok so this whole post was pretty random. I thought it would be fun to look at all the different Summer House books. It is amazing how many share the same title.
Do you know any books out there that share the same title?
Which of these Summerhouse books would you like to read and why?
*Note – I am out of town this weekend until Saturday evening. I will respond to all comments when I return and visit blogs on Sunday! Thanks for visiting! Come again soon!
Above: Well the top two in the pile are my purchases… and where you see doubles of a book, that is upcoming giveaways. I have some great reads that just came in and I am excited to get on them!
Book Journey 