July Books & Banter Fiction Book Club: The Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club by Martha Hall Kelly

Books & Banter is our general fiction book club, focusing on great new reads that matter! As always, our book clubs are free and open to all, and the book club pick is 10% off the regular price. You bring the conversation, we’ll provide the treats!

This month’s pick is The Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club by Martha Hall Kelly / $30.00 Book club price: $27.00 Hardcover, 336 pp

Here’s a beautifully layered novel that blends history, heartache, and healing across generations. The Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club is a moving tribute to the strength found in community—especially when forged through books.

In 1942, on the windswept shores of Martha’s Vineyard, sisters Cadence and Briar Smith are doing everything they can to keep their family farm afloat while their world is rapidly changing. With U.S. soldiers arriving, German U-boats sighted offshore, and a mysterious stranger washing ashore, their quiet island life is thrown into chaos.

As tensions rise and loyalties are tested, Cadence forms a book club with her best friend Bess—what begins as a small act of comfort for the women of the island grows into a refuge for connection, courage, and resilience. But even this sacred space is threatened when rumors of espionage reach their door.

Decades later in 2016, Mari Starwood arrives on the island from California, grieving the loss of her mother. With nothing more than a name—Elizabeth Devereaux, a reclusive artist living on the Vineyard—Mari finds herself drawn into the story of the Smith sisters, and begins to uncover a surprising family legacy of strength, sacrifice, and the healing magic of stories shared.

Rich with atmosphere, emotional depth, and historical intrigue, The Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club is a perfect book club read—one that celebrates female friendship, found family, and the timeless ability of stories to bring us together, even in the darkest of times. This one will spark conversations about war, love, memory, and how books can change lives—then and now.