Host An Unforgettable Book Club Party

The Beach House by Jane Green is about an unconventional woman who is at risk of losing her beautiful Nantucket home so she opens it to summer renters.

From the Publisher (Plume)

Nan Powell is a free-spirited, sixty-five-year-old widow who’s not above skinny-dipping in her neighbors’ pools when they’re away and who dearly loves her Nantucket home. But when she discovers that the money she thought would last forever is dwindling, she realizes she must make drastic changes to save her beloved house. So Nan takes out an ad: Rooms to rent for the summer in a beautiful old Nantucket home with water views and direct access to the beach.

Slowly people start moving in to the house, filling it with noise, laughter, and with tears. As the house comes alive again, Nan finds her family and friends expanding. Her son comes home for the summer, and then an unexpected visitor turns all their lives upside down. As she did so masterfully in her New York Times bestseller Second Chance, Jane Green once again proves herself one of the preeminent writers of contemporary women’s fiction.

Book Club Party Ideas for The Beach House

Fun, beachy music could include Beach Music Sound, I Love Beach Music and, of course, The Beach Boys

The decorations can be based on how Nan decorated her rooms for her guests.  She used jugs of hydrangeas, slip covered furniture, blue and white pillows and sea grass rugs (click on pictures below for links).

Book Club Menu for The Beach House

Nan was such a gracious host.  She seemed to always have homemade lemonade available to quench your thirst.  A variation of this is Hard Lemonade made with vodka.

The menu was put together from various scenes in the book:

Toasted Pine Nut and Feta Salad.  Nan made this when she prepared a romantic lunch for Daniel.

Crab Cakes and Clam Chowder.  These were served at the “getting to know you dinner” at Nan’s house.  The Crab Cakes were served with an Aioli Sauce.  The Clam Chowder was topped with Seasoned Oyster Crackers.

For dessert, a Mixed Berry Shortcake with Lemon Zest- light and refreshing!

We stayed together in the beach house, so I used the ingredients from the dessert to make some Blueberry Breakfast Cakes with Vanilla Hard Sauce.   I brought my adirondack chair down to the water and watched the sun rise as I enjoyed my coffee and the cakes.

I also made a Blueberry Shortcake with Mascarpone

Book Club Resources for The Beach House

Ratings at the time this post was published

Reviews

“Green gives you a clear sense of Nantucket’s weathered splendor and offers up a refreshing summertime getaway…best read on a deck chair somewhere.”-Chicago Sun-Times

“A sweetly memorable summer story, capturing the relaxing, renewing quality of life at the shore” -New Orleans Times-Picayune

“The Beach House was a very well-written piece of fiction that just gave me pure pleasure.” – A Novel Menagerie

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More about the Author

British import Jane Green is the author of twelve bestselling novels, dealing with real women, real life, and all the things life throws at them, with her trademark wisdom, wit and warmth.

A former feature writer for the Daily Express in the UK, Green took a leap in faith when she left, in 1996, to freelance and work on a novel. Seven months later, there was a bidding war for her first book, Straight Talking, the saga of a single career girl looking for the right man. The novel was a hit in England, and Green was an overnight success.

Read more about Jane Green

Other books by Jane Green

Additional Resources

There are some great books about Nantucket.