by Laura Hankin
“Well, wait just a second,” Grandma Stella said. She faced the house and stretched out her arms wide. “I’ve got to give it a hug good-bye.” Then she shouted, “You hear that, house? This is your farewell hug, so you better enjoy it. And here’s a little smooch to remember me by.” She blew it a kiss. Beth and Ally exchanged smiles.
“Ready, Mom?” Beth’s dad said.
“All right, all right, hold your horses, Mr. Go-Go-Go. I’m coming. I reckon I can say good-bye to my own house.” She grabbed one of Beth’s hands and one of Ally’s hands. “You two beauties will lock up, and then meet us over there?”
“Absolutely,” Beth said. “See you soon.” Grandma Stella nodded, hesitant to leave. Her hand flew to the necklace around her neck, a lovely, thin gold thread with little clear stones, and she fiddled with it.
“You look wonderful,” Ally said.
“Well, of course. I’ve got to make a snappy first impression on the Sunny Acres gentlemen,” Grandma Stella said. “You know how it is. All right. Off I go.” She waved good-bye to them, bent to get into the car, and drove off with Beth’s parents.
Ally turned back to the house. From the outside, it looked the same as it always had, except that the curtains were gone, so the windows seemed larger than normal. And when she looked closely at them, beyond the glass into the inside, she only saw emptiness.
Someone else would have to inhabit the house again, someone she didn’t know and probably wouldn’t ever meet. This place wasn’t hers anymore, or Beth’s. The two of them would come back to Britton Hills—they’d already decided that. Penny Joan had offered at the party to let them stay at her house whenever they wanted to visit. They’d swing through Bangor and pick up Grandma Stella on their way, and all four of them would have wild long weekends together. Still, it would never be the same again.
She wanted so badly to capture all that the house represented—to distill Grandma Stella’s particular warmth as she ran to meet them in the driveway, to bottle up the smell of the flowers in the planters lining the streets downtown, to paint the way the sky and the ocean met one another in an infinity of blue. And she would. She would write it, and sing it. She would sing the people too, the ones from Britton Hills and the ones elsewhere—Grandma Stella, Tom, Nick, Marsha, and most of all, Beth.
“Should we lock it up?” Beth asked. They walked to the front door together. Beth put the key in the lock and turned it. They headed back down the driveway.
“Want to drive?” Beth asked, proffering the keys.
“Absolutely not,” Ally said. “But thank you for asking.” They smiled at each other. They didn’t say anything about it, but somehow they both knew, simultaneously, to pivot back around to the house again.
Like Grandma Stella, they each blew it a kiss. Then, together, they got into the car and drove away.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. The Summertime Girls is told in alternating viewpoints by Beth and Ally. Did you relate to one character more than the other as you were reading—and did you change your mind at any point? Why?
2. While the girls seem to fit into opposite personality stereotypes at first (Ally is the loose cannon, Beth is the uptight perfectionist), why do they not, in fact, fit these stereotypes at all? What actions give them away?
3. When they first meet as children, Ally decides Beth is like the kind and quiet Beth March from Little Women, while Beth silently thinks that Beth March was “kind of boring. Jo got to be the one with adventures, with the fire inside her.” How is this significant, and does the sentiment fit in with Beth’s actions as an adult? By the end of the novel, do you think she’s lived up to her real March sister hero, Jo, or is she still catering to the expectations of others?
4. Ally worries about Beth going back to Haiti because “she didn’t want to be temporary to another person.” How have the important people in her life made her feel temporary, and specifically what impact have her parents had on enforcing this feeling?
5. Toward the beginning of the novel, Beth philosophizes on life: “You had to be good, because if you weren’t, where did you put all the guilt? How could you ignore it, as it piled itself higher and higher?” What is “guilt” to Beth? By the end of the novel, what other ways has she found to face this guilt?
6. From Grandma Stella to Penny Joan, from the hardware store to the Britton Hills Bugle, the town of Britton Hills is its own lovable character in The Summertime Girls. What purpose does the town serve to Ally, Beth, Owen, and Grandma Stella?
7. When Ally and Beth fight, Ally says, “a best friend doesn’t necessarily stay your person forever. She stays a person, an important person, but she also gets boyfriends and spends time with them. It’s not that big a deal, it happens.” To what extent is she right or wrong about their relationship’s falling out?
8. Beth’s experience in Haiti is truly unimaginable. How does her reliance on Ally for comfort mirror Grandma Stella’s dependence on Penny Joan after her husband’s death? Is Beth right to blame Ally? Is Ally right in her anger?
9. How did you react to Owen’s family’s story? How much do you think his experience is a factor in Beth’s decision to forgive Ally—and what other factors influence her?
10. What about Nick attracts Ally to him? Do you think they have a real connection, or is he simply a rebound affair for her?
Looking for more?
Visit Penguin.com for more about this author and a complete list of their books.
Discover your next great read!