Before We Start
This is a full summary of Every Summer After by Carley Fortune, so it spoils everything, the ending included. If you want a spoiler free opinion, there is a review for that. Here is the plot, in order, with the two timelines pulled apart so you can follow them.
The Book at a Glance
The book has nineteen chapters and an epilogue. It alternates between two clocks. Chapters labelled Now follow Percy Fraser at thirty. Chapters labelled with a summer, such as Summer, Seventeen Years Ago, are flashbacks to her time at a lake cottage in Barry’s Bay, Ontario.
The ebook I read is the Berkley edition, with a copyright of twenty twenty two. I use the chapter numbers printed in the book.
Chapter One: The Phone Call
Percy is thirty and works as a senior editor at Shelter, a design magazine in Toronto. She has just broken up with a lawyer named Sebastian after seven months, and she got breakup bangs to mark it.
Late at night her phone rings. A deep, soft voice asks, is this Percy? She expects one brother and gets the other. It is Charlie Florek, calling to say his mother, Sue, has died of cancer. The funeral is Sunday. Percy has not seen the family in twelve years, and she says yes at once.
The Flashbacks
The early flashbacks set up the world. Percy’s parents, both professors, buy a cottage on Kamaniskeg Lake. The neighbours are two brothers, Charlie and Sam, whose mother, Sue, runs a Polish restaurant called the Tavern. I will keep the young years short: what matters is that Percy and Sam become best friends.
A few things recur all the way to the end. Percy makes friendship bracelets. They say swear on it to settle a promise. They play a game called three updates, where each shares three pieces of news. They watch horror movies together, and Sam says he wants to be a doctor.
Chapters Three to Seven: Back to Barry’s Bay
Percy rents a car and books the Cedar Grove Motel. She finds Sam washing dishes in the dark kitchen of the Tavern, getting ready for Sue’s wake. He is a cardiologist now, and has been living in Barry’s Bay for a year to care for his mother.
They share ice cream and three updates. Then they share whisky, until his girlfriend, Taylor, walks in and introduces herself. Percy gets a ride back to the motel and throws up.
The next day, Sam brings her coffee and takes her to the lake. They try the old swim across, Percy gets a cramp, and they end up close in the boat. Charlie arrives, and over a barbecue Percy sees the brothers argue. Later Sam shows her a box of ninety three horror DVDs he bought and never watched.
The Funeral
That night Sam tells her he ended things with Taylor. In the morning they kiss in his truck outside the motel, and he tells her he loved her, and that she broke his heart.
At the funeral, Charlie and Sam both give eulogies. Percy overhears Sam talking with his friends Jordie and Finn about what a mess he was last time. She has a panic attack in the Tavern kitchen, and Sam talks her through it by counting. Percy tells her friend Chantal everything on the phone.
Who Is Who
A quick cast list helps here. Percy Fraser, whom most people call Persephone, is the narrator. Sam Florek is the neighbour who becomes a doctor. Charlie is his older brother, who works in finance in Toronto. Sue Florek is their mother and the owner of the Tavern. Julien Chen is the chef. Chantal is Percy’s closest friend today, and Delilah Mason is her closest friend from school. Taylor is Sam’s girlfriend, a prosecutor in Kingston.
The Secret
In Sam’s bedroom that evening, Percy finally says it: twelve years ago, he asked her to marry him, and she said no. And she slept with Charlie.
The flashbacks fill in the story. The summer after high school, Sam left for a premed workshop and drifted away. Percy turned to Charlie, who was kind. One night they ended up together, and she panicked the next morning. At Thanksgiving, Sam proposed, and she could not accept while hiding it. She asked for a break, and they never spoke again.
What Sam Already Knew
Sam is furious, then says the key line: you left and never came back. He has known for years, because Charlie told him that Christmas. Percy writes to him, and gets no reply. A friendship with Delilah, her old school friend, also falls apart that winter, when Sam makes a drunken pass at her at a party and Percy lashes out at Delilah.
Percy runs, but her car is gone, because Charlie took it. She has a second panic attack on the road, and Sam talks her down again.
The Dock
The next morning Charlie tells her Sue was mostly angry with him, and asked him to call Percy before she died. Percy finds Sam on the dock at dawn.
Sam apologizes for his own part: his jealousy, his pride, the year he spent drinking. He says betrayals do not cancel each other out, they just hurt more. He says he forgave her years ago. Percy says she never stopped loving him. He ties the old friendship bracelet around her wrist.
The Epilogue
One year later, they scatter Sue’s ashes from the Banana Boat. Sam and Percy live in Toronto, and she writes in the early mornings. Charlie lives nearby. Julien, the Tavern’s chef, bought the restaurant, and Percy has apologized to Delilah.
That night, Percy plans to propose to Sam with a ring made of embroidered thread.
Themes and Takeaways
My own view, and a draft for the owner to check, is that the book is about what silence costs. Percy hides, Sam waits, and the lake is the place they both come back to.
If you want the ending in more detail, I have a separate video explaining what Percy did and who she ends up with. Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next time.
