Most Cape May County locals as well as offseason visitors are well aware of the charm of Indian Summer beach days. The early fall season often provides the most relaxing, sandy days of escape of the entire year. Here, we reveal some of the most highly anticipated new book releases of the month of September that are sure to complete your Indian Summer days. The promise of these riveting plots is nearly as exciting as the beautiful fall days that lie ahead…
American Boys: The True Story of the Lost 74 of the Vietnam War
Louise Esola
Release date: Week of September 1
Publisher’s synopsis: It was 1969. War and protest rattled the nation while the troops marched on. The warships set sail. For coming-of-age American boys, death seemed one hill away. They were young men caught in a war machine, one of chance, circumstance, and misfortune. In a tragedy of just the same, lost in the turmoil of what would become America’s most unpopular war, lies a story buried 1,100 fathoms deep in the blue waters off Vietnam.
In the middle of a dark night off the coast of Vietnam on June 3, 1969, the USS Frank E. Evans is rammed by a ship ten times her size, sending her forward half to the bottom of the South China Sea and into oblivion. Seventy-four Americans are killed in this mysterious collision. Only one body is ever found. The truth is confined to a footnote of the Vietnam War. Buried in obscurity even today, as the 74 names of those killed are not on the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C.
It’s the story of a shattering injustice, of love and healing, and of a great generation of those who fought and lost yet vowed to never forget, though their nation has.
The Children Act
Ian McEwan
Release date: Week of September 8
A brilliant, emotionally wrenching new novel from the author of “Atonement” and “Amsterdam”
Publisher’s synopsis: Fiona Maye is a High Court judge in London presiding over cases in family court. She is fiercely intelligent, well respected, and deeply immersed in the nuances of her particular field of law. Often the outcome of a case seems simple from the outside, the course of action to ensure a child’s welfare obvious. But the law requires more rigor than mere pragmatism, and Fiona is expert in considering the sensitivities of culture and religion when handing down her verdicts.
But Fiona’s professional success belies domestic strife. Her husband, Jack, asks her to consider an open marriage and, after an argument, moves out of their house. His departure leaves her adrift, wondering whether it was not love she had lost so much as a modern form of respectability; whether it was not contempt and ostracism she really fears. She decides to throw herself into her work, especially a complex case involving a seventeen-year-old boy whose parents will not permit a lifesaving blood transfusion because it conflicts with their beliefs as Jehovah’s Witnesses. But Jack doesn’t leave her thoughts, and the pressure to resolve the case—as well as her crumbling marriage—tests Fiona in ways that will keep readers thoroughly enthralled until the last stunning page.
How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It Happens
Benedict Carey
Release date: Week of September 8
Publisher’s synopsis: From an early age, it is drilled into our heads: Restlessness, distraction, and ignorance are the enemies of success. We’re told that learning is all self-discipline, that we must confine ourselves to designated study areas, turn off the music, and maintain a strict ritual if we want to ace that test, memorize that presentation, or nail that piano recital.
But what if almost everything we were told about learning is wrong? And what if there was a way to achieve more with less effort? In “How We Learn”, award-winning science reporter Benedict Carey sifts through decades of education research and landmark studies to uncover the truth about how our brains absorb and retain information. What he discovers is that, from the moment we are born, we are all learning quickly, efficiently, and automatically; but in our zeal to systematize the process we have ignored valuable, naturally enjoyable learning tools like forgetting, sleeping, and daydreaming. Carey’s search for answers to these questions yields a wealth of strategies that make learning more a part of our everyday lives—and less of a chore.
For these and even more excellent beach reads, look no further than Cape Atlantic Book Co. of Cape May’s Washington Street Mall. This helpful staff is full of recommendations and ready and willing to point you in the direction of the book to make your beach day complete.