One Golden Summer

In the summer of 1999, a young woman named Eva returns to her childhood home with a secret she has carried for years. The town’s familiar streets and long, sunlit days quickly bring back the people and moments that shaped her—especially the friendship that once felt like safety and the love that arrived with the promise of a different life. But as Eva revisits the past, she realizes that memory can be both shelter and trap, and that the truth she buried may be more complicated than she ever allowed herself to believe. Carley Fortune’s One Golden Summer unfolds through the pull between then and now, revealing how a single season can alter the course of a life. As Eva reconnects with the people who were there—those who stayed, those who left, and those who changed—she begins to piece together what really happened during that pivotal summer. The story balances tenderness with suspense, showing how grief, guilt, and longing can hide in ordinary details until the right moment forces them into the light. Ultimately, the novel is about the cost of what we choose to remember and what we try to forget. With its warm atmosphere and emotional undercurrent, One Golden Summer explores how love and loss intertwine, and how coming to terms with the past can be the first step toward forgiveness—both for others and for yourself.

Store Availability