Love Along the Lakeshore: A Saugatuck Summer

Summary

When wealthy Ginny Madden encounters the fruit farmer, Andrew McBride, she questions her future as prescribed by her parents. It’s 1915 in the art colony of Saugatuck, Michigan, and Ginny prefers sketching with other artists. Weary of her parents’ expectations to marry the man of their choice and enter the prestige and power of Chicago’s society, Ginny Madden chooses a different path. When the family’s summer cook suddenly cancels, Ginny assumes and revels in the responsibilities of cooking at their Lake Michigan cottage. Yet she seeks advice about numerous tasks from lighting a fire to baking biscuits from Andrew’s mother and her son. Ginny also offers to help at certain jobs on Andrew’s farm and comes to love both the farmer and his orchards. But her parents reject her romance with Andrew and insist upon a courtship with a family friend who is determined to marry Ginny. Fueled by her passion for the suffragist movement and her friendship with a female art student, Ginny grows in confidence and dreams. She flees from her parents’ choices and into Andrew’s arms, who encourages her newfound identity.

When wealthy Ginny Madden encounters the fruit farmer, Andrew McBride, she questions her future as prescribed by her parents. It’s 1915 in the art colony of Saugatuck, Michigan, and Ginny prefers sketching with other artists. Weary of her parents’ expectations to marry the man of their choice and enter the prestige and power of Chicago’s society, Ginny Madden chooses a different path. When the family’s summer cook suddenly cancels, Ginny assumes and revels in the responsibilities of cooking at their Lake Michigan cottage. Yet she seeks advice about numerous tasks from lighting a fire to baking biscuits from Andrew’s mother and her son. Ginny also offers to help at certain jobs on Andrew’s farm and comes to love both the farmer and his orchards. But her parents reject her romance with Andrew and insist upon a courtship with a family friend who is determined to marry Ginny. Fueled by her passion for the suffragist movement and her friendship with a female art student, Ginny grows in confidence and dreams. She flees from her parents’ choices and into Andrew’s arms, who encourages her newfound identity.

Book Club Questions for Love Along the Lakeshore: A Saugatuck Summer

  • Does your family have or rent a cottage on a lake? What are your favorite memories from your vacations?
  • When Ginny decides to take over the cooking chores, she realizes how unprepared she is for the task. How did you learn to cook? Did your mother or grandmother teach you?
  • All farming demands dedication and hard work. How is fruit farming different from raising row crops such as soybeans or corn?
  • Today, most parents do not force their daughters to marry a man from a certain social class. If you are married or have been married, how did you meet your spouse?
  • How familiar are you with how to react if you swept up in a deadly rip currents? Do you know anyone who was caught in a rip current?
  • In this novel and in others, Lake Michigan is a “character”. How does an author show a landscape as a character?