The Summer Friend

A Memoir

Author  Charles McGrath
The Summer Friend

Alive with the intoxicating magic of summer in New England, former editor of the New York Times Book Review Charles McGrath’s evocative memoir looks back at that sun-soaked season, at family, youth, and a singular bond made at a time when he thought he was beyond making friends.

“Sun-drenched and deeply touching.” —The New York Times

“Positively aches with beauty and loss.” —Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls

It was early evening and a new acquaintance had come to retrieve his daughter from a play date. Instead of driving up in a minivan, he arrived by water, tacking his sailboat smartly across a squiggly channel in the marsh, throwing a rope overboard, and zipping back home, his gleeful daughter riding in…