Every August, Maddy, Rachel, Barbara, and Melinda would gather together to spend a week at the beach, renting a new house each year. They called themselves the Girls of August. The ritual began when they were in their twenties and their husbands were in medical school, and became a mainstay of every summer thereafter. Their only criteria were oceanfront and isolation, their only desire to strengthen their far-fung friendships. But when Melinda dies tragically in a car accident, the group slowly drifts apart and their vacations together come to an end. Years later, a new marriage reunites them and they decide to gather once again, this time on a remote barrier island off the South Carolina coast. Baby, the new and much younger addition to the group, is not at all what the other women are expecting, and her adolescent antics soon test their patience and good will. But the girls quickly realize that Baby is the least of their worries: on this island, far from civilization, the strength of their friendship will be tested —and all four women will make startling discoveries that will alter them in ways they never expected. www.GrandCentralPublishing.com Available in large print and as an ebook Also available from [-7 hachette Cover design by Catherine Casalino Cover photography by Cig Harvey Cover © 2015 Hachette Book Group, Ine. Printed in the U.S.A. $15.00 US / $17.00