The older women of the present try to recapture those carefree days but all know they can never go back. We first meet the young college friends and learn what happened to shape their lives and how each dealt with what they were given. She is apprehensive about seeing Sara, and hopes that after all this time an old boyfriend who once came between them will be long forgotten. Mel, twice divorced and a successful writer, finds herself lonely and envious of her friends' lives. She holds a secret close to her heart and wonders how different her life would be if she had chosen to let go and go for it. She is everyone's mother, always worrying about someone or something. Her young son is autistic, and she feels it was brought on by an accident she could have avoided. Sara, a lawyer and married with two young children, carries her guilt with her wherever she goes. Her friends wonder why she has stayed with him so long. But although very wealthy, Briggs is demanding and abusive and Lola is miserable and medicated. Lola, married to her college boyfriend Briggs, seems to have it all. All eager to join the others, they bring trepidation with them on this girl's week of fun in the sun. In their mid forties, they have agreed to meet at Lola's beach front home on Whale Head Island, North Carolina. packed with hilarity and heartache.”-Wichita Falls Times Record NewsīONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Cathy Holton's Summer in the South.B each Trip is the story of four college friends who reunite after twenty-three years. But as the week wears on and each woman’s hidden story is gradually revealed, these four friends learn that they must inevitably confront their shared past, and a secret that threatens to change their bond, and their lives, forever.

Now the friends, all in their forties, converge on Lola’s lavish North Carolina beach house in an attempt to relive the carefree days of their college years. And sweet-tempered Lola whiles away her hours-and her husband’s money-on little pills that keep her happy. Annie, a successful Nashville businesswoman married to her childhood sweetheart, can’t seem to leave behind the regrets of her youth. Sara, an Atlanta attorney, struggles with her own slowly unraveling marriage. Mel, a mystery writer living in New York, is grappling with the aftermath of two failed marriages and a stalled writing career. Mel, Sara, Annie, and Lola have traveled diverse paths since their years together at a small Southern liberal arts college during the early 1980s. Holton refreshes the action with winning humor.”- Publishers Weekly “Break out the tissues, sunblock, and margarita mix as four friends reunite after twenty-three years for a beach party in feast of Southern friendship.

Cathy holton beach trip