Summer Sisters
In the summer of 1977, twelve-year-old Victoria Leonard, always the cautious one, is invited by charismatic classmate Caitlin Somers to spend the summer with Caitlin's divorced father and his new family on Martha's Vineyard, and a friendship begins that neither girl will know how to set down for the next twenty years. The two return every summer through adolescence and into their twenties, share boys, share secrets, share the Somers's house and its particular local boys Bru and Gus, and slowly reveal to each other who they were always going to become. Judy Blume's 1998 adult novel, one of her periodic adult-readership books, is a decades-spanning friendship story about class, desire, the specific gravity of a shared first love, and what happens when one sister of a two-sister summer decides to leave the island first.
Themes & atmosphere
What you might want to know about Summer Sisters
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Quiet New Mexico transplant Vix is invited to spend the summer with the magnetic, wealthy Caitlin Somers on Martha's Vineyard. The invitation repeats every year, and the friendship walks them into men, marriage, and middle age.
Summer Sisters (1998) is published as adult fiction, despite Judy Blume's primary reputation in middle-grade and YA. It contains explicit sexual content and was widely read by older teens. Most retailers shelve it in adult fiction.
Yes. A film adaptation has been announced. As of 2025, the project remains in development.
Summer Sisters was written by Judy Blume, published in 1998 by Dell.
Summer Sisters is 408 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Summer Sisters takes most readers 6 to 9 hours to finish.
Summer Sisters is a standalone novel by Judy Blume, not part of a series.
Summer Sisters is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.