Summer Stage

Starred review from March 27, 2023
Moore (Vacationland) brings summer theatre to life in her sparkling latest. When movie star Timothy Fleming’s ex-wife, Gertie, asks him to help find a location to stage Much Ado About Nothing, Timothy is eager to oblige. His career is at a crossroads, and he knows losing Gertie, also an actor, was his “biggest mistake,” so he books a theater on Block Island, where he grew up, on the condition that he be the director. Timothy’s sister, Amy, a married mother of two who has put her own dreams of being a playwright on the back burner, is made production manager. Home for the summer is Amy’s 19-year-old daughter, Sam, a child actor whose recent work won her TikTok fame but ended in scandal. Soon they’re all working on the island, where old resentments are brought to light regarding Timothy and Amy’s mother as well as Sam’s childhood spent pursuing acting in Los Angeles. Pulling the reader through is the unlikely production, with its backstage dramas and lackluster ticket sales. The relationships feel real and engaging, and the dialogue is sharp and snappy, with smart writing that examines familial relationships with insight and aplomb. This one’s equally charming and satisfying. Agent: Elisabeth Weed, Book Group.

April 1, 2023
A 19-year-old social media star spends the summer working with her famous uncle on a summer theater Shakespeare revival. With an uncle who's a movie star, it's unsurprising that Sam Trevino was drawn into acting as a child--first in To Kill a Mockingbird on Broadway, then in a short-run Disney sitcom out in LA, where she lived with her uncle, Timothy Fleming, and his then-wife, Gertie Sanger. But now, Sam has global fame all her own--albeit of the TikTok variety. Ready to be done with that after a scandal not of her own making, Sam lands back at home in Narragansett before swiftly relocating to Block Island, where her Uncle Timmy is directing a Much Ado About Nothing revival that will star her once-upon-a-time Aunt Gertie. (Fans of Moore's The Islanders, from 2019, will recognize some of that novel's characters in the background here.) Sam's mom, Amy, a high school English teacher, will be the production manager for her brother's show. Moore has created a story that unfolds much like a hot summer day at the beach--for the most part slow and languid but every now and again spiced up with a bit of drama. Most of the story is told from the third-person perspectives of Sam, Timothy, and Amy as each of them works to get the production ready for its run while simultaneously processing the emotions of their pasts--the choices they made and the events they couldn't control--and what their futures might hold. A light beach read that also examines the benefits and costs of celebrity.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from April 1, 2023
Actor Timothy Fleming's ex-wife, Gertie, convinces him to go back home to Block Island, Rhode Island, to direct Much Ado About Nothing. The island doesn't have the robust summer stock cachet of other places in New England, but he's got a connection at a local theater, which needs to be whipped into shape. The perfect woman for the job of production manager is his sister, Amy, who lives nearby with her husband and, temporarily, their 19-year-old daughter, Sam. Amy has the summer off from teaching, but she was hoping to spend quality time with Sam, who left New York and Tik Tok fame behind, though she won't say why. But Sam convinces her uncle Timmy to let her stay with him on Block Island for the summer, though she is adamant about not being involved in the play. Moore's latest (connected to The Islanders, 2019) deliciously captures the energy of a summer of creativity with this ensemble piece, combining a strong sense of place with likable narrators. From Sam's stubborn vulnerability to Amy's competence that belies bigger dreams, the characters are both relatable and aspirational. Give this to fans of Elin Hilderbrand and The Summer Set (2020), by Aimee Agresti.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.