The Summer They Came - by William Storandt (Paperback)

About the Book

For fans of Armistead Maupin and Stephen McCauley, a hilarious first novel about culture clash, set in a Rhode Island beach village that unwittingly becomes a gay hot spot overnight.

Book Synopsis

There was a time when the seaside town of Long Spit was known only to a few wealthy families and a straggle of New England beachgoers. But when gay developers from Man-hattan, searching for a new place for summer shares and tea dances, get a look at its gently curving beaches, they hatch an ingenious plan to transform the sleepy Rhode Island hideaway into the next gay hotspot. If only someone would tell the townsfolk.

As a contingent of gym-buffed and cell-phone-toting vacationers descends on the village, some locals are outraged, others strangely titillated. Hollis Wynbourne, a reclusive antiques dealer and longtime subject of gossip, is drawn from his cocoon by the sight of sunbathing beauties; wealthy Wesley Herndon suddenly finds the town overrun with his two favorite attractions, frisky hunks and yachts of pedigree; and Anthony, a callow eighteen-year-old, embarks on a sentimental education he never expected to get in his own backyard. An uproarious send-up of both small-town provincialism and the absurdities of contemporary gay life, The Summer They Came will capture you with its portrait of a town you thought you knew, run amuck.

Review Quotes

"The Summer They Came is filled with characters so sharply defined that by the time you reluctantly turn to the last page, you'll miss being part of their lives." --Ben Tyler, author of Tricks of the Trade

"What a wonderful book, full of Yankee Cranks, City Slickers, Clam-Chowder Liberals, and one achingly tender, nubile teen waitboy. Buy this book (because no one will lend it to you), and then leave it behind for your host. You'll definitely be invited back." --Doug Guinan, author of California Screaming

"The Summer They Came is an enviable way to launch a literary career. I look forward to Storandt's next novel." --Ben Tyler, author of Tricks of the Trade