Personal Thoughts......

The setting of A Hundred Summers takes place in and around Watch Hill, Rhode Island.  As a child I vacationed along this same stretch of beach with my family each summer.   Later, my parents moved to Misquamicut to be close to the shoreline.   However,  the visions of "38", and it's aftermath were still vivid to them. They were 10 years old when the hurricane hit.  They decided that they wanted to be at least 3 blocks from shore. They never regretted a day spent near the Atlantic beaches.

I consider myself very lucky to have experienced life along the Misquamicut shores. Memories are cherished of that time.  If you have never had authentic Fish and Chips, or clam cakes, then head to Rhode Island sometime soon.  Yum! Yum!

I was often told stories of the 1938 Hurricane that decimated the South County shores of Rhode Island.  In fact, my Great Aunt had a cottage there.  When the storm hit, the winds, rain and storm surge was so violent, parts of her home's foundation were found blocks away.   Only a few homes were left standing. Over the years, time wipes away memory and cottages and businesses have emerged along the Atlantic shores.  If you ever doubted the expression  that history repeats itself, than the tempest of last October, 2013 known as Hurricane Sandy was confirmation, and a rapacious reminder.

Here is a You Tube video filmed in September 2012 by CBS Chennel 5, Boston,  on the 75th anniversary of the 38 Hurricane.

For me, the cautious words of my parents haunted me as the visions of Hurricane Sandy smashed into the coastline once again with equal velocity.

The hurricane of 1938 lends a perfect metaphor to the lives of those who spent that summer in Seaview. Beatriz Williams masterfully imbeds unpredictable twists and turns that will transfix readers until the waters of the hurricane subside. It wouldn’t surprise this reviewer that if after reading A Hundred Summers,  Napatree Point in Rhode Island is added to many bucket lists.