One summer in Savannah A novel

Eight years ago, Sara Lancaster left Savannah, Georgia, with no intention of ever returning. After being raped at a high-school party and going through a painful public trial, she moved away to raise the daughter that resulted from the assault. However, when her father suffers a serious health crisis, she must return and confront the past she thought she left behind. Jacob, the identical twin brother of Sara's convicted assailant, has also recently returned to the area, and a chance meeting between Jacob and Sara's daughter brings the two families together unexpectedly. As Sara and Jacob tentatively repair old wounds, they face what it means to truly forgive. An emphasis on language and poetry (Sara's father speaks only in snippets of poems) adds a lyrical quality to the story. While there are references to the trauma Sara endured, the novel avoids any graphic descriptions of the incident or immediate aftermath. A natural pick for book clubs--there is plenty to discuss in this thought-provoking, moving story of forgiveness, unexpected connection, and the myriad ways people protect those they love.

DEBUT Alabama-based collection development librarian Harris's first novel is filled with challenges, the first of which is the existence of Sara Lancaster's daughter, who was conceived during a sexual assault. Alana resembles her father and similarly possesses a genius-level proficiency in mathematics. When Sara's father begins to ail, mother and daughter leave the relative privacy of Maine for Savannah, to care for him and run his bookstore. Even though Savannah is where her sexual assault took place, Sara hopes to keep Alana's existence a secret from the Wylers, the family of her attacker. While the focus of Harris's novel is admirable in its exploration of the myriad shapes of forgiveness and the ripple effect of grief, there are too many contrived plot devices that muddy these messages. Among these are Sara's love life taking a frankly unbelievable twist and the too-pat revelation of a mysterious benefactor who keeps the bookstore solvent. VERDICT While emotionally ambitious in its choice of topic, this debut takes on too many challenges and fails to fully execute.--Julie Kane