For Your Nightstand

The best part of the season is being able to escape to fabulous locations, both in our minds with fantastic books and summer splurges to hot spots. And what better way to deepen that vibe than to read books that take place in our own towns?

BY: Zibby Owens

Amagansett

Track 61: A Novel by Eve Karlin

In June 1942, a German U-boat arrives in Amagansett, close to author Eve Karlin’s family’s home. (Karlin is the new manager of BookHampton, where this powerful book must remain prominently displayed.) One passenger, Peter Burger, had spent 17 months in a Gestapo prison followed by 17 days on the boat before landing with six boxes of explosives. At a New York parade, he meets German-Jewish refugee Grete Baum and bonds with her until she discovers his secret mission, 10 floors below Grand Central Terminal.

East Hampton

Elizabeth of East Hampton: A Novel by Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding

I feel like this book was named for me. My real name is Elizabeth, and I grew up going to East Hampton. Okay, fine, it wasn’t; it’s named after Elizabeth Bennet in a modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. In fact, local Hamptonite Lizzy Bennet is less than thrilled with all the city-folk descending in her hometown. You just might recognize Will Darcy and Charlie Pierce from their original roles. Just wait and see who is interested in who…and why.

My Favorite Terrible Thing by Madeleine Henry

A famous author goes missing in this family thriller set close to a fictitious Maidstone Club, written by longtime East Hampton resident Madeleine Henry. 

I Want You More: A Novel by Swan Huntley

This delicious novel is Single White Female meets The War of the Roses meets Martha Stewart Living takes place in a beautiful house by Main Beach and wanders its way into East Hampton town. When a ghostwriter from California journeys out east to spend the summer at a celebrity chef’s home to write her memoir, the two become more than friends and eventually become quite unhinged. Swan Huntley is a masterful writer with a keen eye for observation and a wicked sense of humor. This should be the book by everyone’s pool this summer.

Further Lane: A Novel by James Brady

A famous lifestyle guru is found dead on the beach with a privet stake through her heart on Further Lane in James Brady’s mystery in the dunes. Who killed Hannah Cutting? Two very different people are determined to find out: foreign correspondent Beecher Stowe, back at his family’s home on Further Lane, and British Lady Alix Dunraver, dispatched from Harry Evans of Random House to find Hannah’s tell-all manuscript. Class conflicts swell as the unlikely pair team up to figure out what happened before the end-of-summer hurricane descends.

Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Literature by Zibby Owens

I had to include my own memoir in this list given all the scenes that take place “out east,” from the East Hampton Tennis Club in the 1980s with Billy Joel on the radio and Tretorns on the floor of the Chevy Caprice Classic Station Wagon, to tennis courts and a certain tennis pro thirty years later who brings a new meaning to the term: love. From the beaches to tennis courts, Bookends will take you through my own experiences that upended my life and redefined it in my forties. Don’t judge.

Find Me: A Novel by Alafair Burke

Hope Miller had amnesia after a car accident fifteen years prior and never recovered her memory. But when she decides to leave the small New Jersey town that welcomed her, things get tricky. Hope’s best friend Lindsay Kelly, who found her after the accident, worries about how Hope will fare in her new East Hampton home. But when Hope vanishes when only a trace of blood is traced to a Kansas murderer, Lindsey turns to NYPD detective Ellie Hatcher to help. Written by a Hamptons local, the New York Times bestselling author Alafair Burke, Find Me will have you staying up late at night and double-checking that the doors are really locked.

Sag Harbor

Summer on Sag Harbor: A Novel by Sunny Hostin

This instant New York Times bestseller by co-host of The View Sunny Hostin follows successful finance guru Olivia Jones, who is contending with hidden grief and decides to spend the summer in Sag Harbor among the Black elite. When real estate developers move in on her neighborhood, she has to join residents to fight back in this story of friendship, love, and faith.

Sag Harbor: A Novel by Colson Whitehead

What happens when a black kid in a predominantly white class gets effectively canceled in high school for liking a fantasy magazine? Nothing good. At least he has Sag Harbor on the summers where he can be with a Black, welcoming community. One of the most esteemed talents of our generation, Colson Whitehead takes us back to the 1980s in this coming-of-age tale for the books.

Is There Still Sex in the City? by Candace Bushnell

Montauk

Montauk: A Novel by Nicola Harrison

In 1938, Beatrice Bordeaux spends the summer with society wives at the Montauk Manor while her husband goes back and forth to work in the city. A fish out of water among the high society set, Bea doesn’t have children after five years of marriage and doesn’t feel content to merely indulge in leisure activities and charity work. She strikes up a relationship with the laundress at the manor who she relates to, and then wanders to the lighthouse where an interesting man—not her husband—is hiding.

The Lost Boys of Montauk: The True Story of the Wind Blown, Four Men Who Vanished at Sea, and the Survivors They Left Behind  by Amanda M. Fairbanks

A riveting, tragic tale about four fishermen who never returned back to shore in 1984, this multigenerational narrative non-fiction tale by local Amanda M. Fairbanks is un-put-downable. The ripple effects of this loss on the rapidly changing fishing village of Montauk are wide-reaching – and without any trace of the boat or men being found, is an unfinished story. Amanda plumbs the depth of this story in her truly brilliant book.

Out East: Memoir of a Montauk Summer by John Glynn

A debut coming-of-age and coming-out memoir, Out East is editor John Glynn’s confessional about his summer of 2013, when at age 27 he spent the summer in a Montauk share house called “The Hive.” (He used his late grandmother’s inheritance of a few thousand dollars to cover it.) During the summer, John comes to terms with his sexuality and allows himself to fall in love. O, the Oprah Magazine named it the Best LGBTQ Book of 2019.

Southampton

On Gin Lane: A Novel by Brooke Lea Foster

Set in June 1957, On Gin Lane follows a newlywed couple, Everleigh (“Lee”) Farrows and her fiance Roland, who surprises her with a hotel on Gin Lane. But Lee grew up in the Plaza with her mentally ill mother, so this gift isn’t exactly her love language. When tragedy strikes, Lee finds out who she really is.

The Summer We Read Gatsby: A Novel by Danielle Ganek

Half-sisters Cassie and Peck return to their Aunt Lydia’s home after her death to share the house she jointly left to them – along with an artist-in-residence Biggsy. They search all summer to find the item of value their aunt alluded to; they can’t afford the home despite their aunt’s wishes. A character drama with the home a character in itself, this beautiful novel is a love letter to the Hamptons

Bridgehampton

It’s Hot in the Hamptons by Holly Peterson

Caroline was raised in East Hampton but quickly became part of the New York society set, thanks to her husband’s job success. When she finds him cheating, she teams up with another jilted wife, Annabelle, who suggests they don’t get mad; they get even. Set in the horse stables of Sagaponack and Bridgehampton with moms and wives plotting to get even, It’s Hot in the Hamptons is definitely hot.

Readers, extra points for taking photos and tagging @spotlightxhamptons and @zibbyowens on IG when you’re in a spot that’s featured in one of the books here!