Our Lady of the Dunes (Paperback or Softback)

In 1942, Boston teenager Jessica Stanfield is learning about life and its complexities in a time of war as her German housekeeper Anna is harassed and threatened. Her parents, anxious for Jessica’s safety as well as Anna’s, send them to spend the summer in one of the dune shacks of the backshore of Cape Cod. Jessica is enchanted by her new independence as well as by the wild natures that she discovers in the dunes. She is befriended by a local girl, Sophie, the daughter of a fisherman, and as time passes the girls’ friendship deepens into something deeper. But the summer isn’t just idyllic: rumors of camps in Europe, the presence of U-boats off the coast, and dangers even closer to home put Jessica’s newfound strength to the test. And when she’s called upon to make decisions about what is right and what is wrong, she finds that she has to grow up... quickly. Filled with descriptions of Provincetown and its surrounding dunes during World War Two, Our Lady of the Dunes is a coming-of-age novel that will challenge readers’ assumptions while giving a glimpse into another place in another time.