The House on Fripp Island - by Rebecca Kauffman (Paperback)

About the Book

A taut, page-turning novel of secrets and strife. When two families--one rich, one not--vacation together off the coast of South Carolina, little do they know that someone won't be returning home.

Book Synopsis

A taut, page-turning novel of secrets and strife. When two families--one rich, one not--vacation together off the coast of South Carolina, little do they know that someone won't be returning home.

Fripp Island, South Carolina is the perfect destination for the wealthy Daly family: Lisa, Scott, and their two girls. For Lisa's childhood friend, Poppy Ford, the resort island is a world away from the one she and Lisa grew up in--and when Lisa invites Poppy's family to join them, how can a working-class woman turn down an all-expenses paid vacation for her husband and children?

But everyone brings secrets to the island, distorting what should be a convivial, relaxing summer on the beach. Lisa sees danger everywhere--the local handyman can't be allowed near the children, and Lisa suspects Scott is fixated on something, or someone, else. Poppy watches over her husband John and his routines with a sharp eye. It's a summer of change for all of the children: Ryan Ford who prepares for college in the fall, Rae Daly who seethes on the brink of adulthood, and the two youngest, Kimmy Daly and Alex Ford, who are exposed to new ideas and different ways of life as they forge a friendship of their own. Those who return from this vacation will spend the rest of their lives trying to process what they witnessed, the tipping points, moments of violence and tenderness, and the memory of whom they left behind.

Review Quotes

"Gripping." --People, "Best New Books, June"

"Page-turner pacing...Combustible...The tensions between predators and prey -- and how quickly one can become the other -- haunt the novel, from its ominous beginning to its heartrending conclusion. But Kauffman also deftly crafts moments of great tenderness and light throughout, reminding us that memory endures and life perseveres, even after a harrowing and grievous loss." --The Charleston Post and Courier

"Rebecca Kauffman has long been one of my favorite writers, and The House on Fripp Island is her best novel yet. The story of two very different families brought together for an unlikely vacation that takes a dangerous turn, Kauffman's latest is a rare and gripping combination of gloriously observed prose and three hundred pages of pure suspense. I loved it." --Julie Buntin, author of Marlena

"A novel full of secrets set in a stunning beach house is my definition of a perfect summer read. I was stunned by the twists and turns of Rebecca Kauffman's masterful novel, The House on Fripp Island. Bring plenty of sunscreen when you take this book to the beach...you'll be reading all day long."--Amanda Eyre Ward, author of The Jetsetters

"A sharp, modern story about the wilderness of family life."--Adrienne Celt, author of Invitation to a Bonfire and The Daughter

"Kauffman's keen, atmospheric follow-up to The Gunners explores class, friendship, and dark family secrets...inevitably, events spiral to a shocking conclusion. Kauffman's characters leap off the page...Readers will devour this suspenseful summer drama."--Publishers Weekly

"Our assumptions about whose tensions, desires, rages, and shy longings might erupt into murder are provoked and reversed right up until the final pages, when the mystery of Fripp Island is revealed...An entertaining and ultimately tender book."--Kirkus

"The tensions between the haves and the have-nots offer an insight into contemporary America...In watchful prose by turns powerful and delicate, the action builds to an event as inevitable as it was unpredictable. Gripping." --The Sunday Times

"Suspenseful...While the fault lines...allow for plenty of tart observations on marital disenchantment, Kaufmann spins a secondary, far more disconcerting story about the toxic power of suspicion and rumour. A smart summer read."--The Daily Mail

"Under the guise of a skilful domestic whodunnit Rebecca Kauffman has produced a disturbing novel for our times."--Shots Magazine

"Readers will be drawn into a smart, keenly-observed look at family dynamics as they try to figure out which of the eight characters was speaking from the grave in this atmospheric beach read." --Amazon Book Review

About The Author

Rebecca Kauffman received her MFA in creative writing from New York University. She is the author of The Gunners and Another Place You've Never Been, which was long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Originally from rural northeastern Ohio, she now lives in Virginia.