The High Season

This story opens on Memorial Day weekend in a seaside town on Long Island, where Ruthie, her still-adored ex-husband Mik... (more)

This story opens on Memorial Day weekend in a seaside town on Long Island, where Ruthie, her still-adored ex-husband Mike, and the couple's sullen fifteen year old daughter Jem are packing up the last bits of their household, awaiting the yearly arrival of a wealthy renter from Manhattan. It is what Jem calls "the summer bummer"; her parents own a beautiful house that they have renovated by hand from top to bottom, but which they secretly can only afford to keep by leasing it out during the best part of the year. Every year they must do this and every year it gets harder, amassing a pile-up of low-grade resentments from everyone in the family. And thus begins the summer when every possible thing that can go wrong in Ruthie's life seems to do so. (less)