The Perfect Age

Helen is just fifteen lanky and striking. She is a lifeguard at the pool at The Dunes hotel this summerher first job a step toward independence in a world beginning to treat her as an adult and a woman. Her mother Kathy watching Helen grow up suddenly finds herself in a place equally uncertain: her children getting older her stable marriage perhaps too stable the slow days of summer leaving her adrift. When she meets Helen''s boss the manager at the pool she chooses an affair that opens her to the idea of a different sort of life. Following Helen and Kathy through three summers this novel is an intimate picture of two sexual awakenings under one roof and their aftershocks on a family. Heather Skyler shows us that the validity of life''s deepest experienceslove betrayal acceptanceis never compromised by age. Reading group guide included.