Lawyer Anna and actress Sera head back to their hometown because their friend Juliette has terminal ovarian cancer. Juliette is a popular local who runs the bookshop/café but Anna hasn’t been back to Ellesmere for years, not since a scandal involving her father made her feel not welcome in the town. Nor does she tend to see eye to eye with Sera but the two women are ready to put their friend’s needs to the fore for what may be their last summer with Juliette. This involves tracking down a guy called Noah, who they believe has played an important role in Juliette’s life. Rather than focussing on the day-to-day circumstances of Juliette’s illness, this novel is more about the romances involving all three women. No doubt it was a difficult balancing act but sometimes it felt like the romantic relationships had too much priority – to the detriment of building up emotion around the impending death. The flashbacks to Juliette’s time with Noah were a highlight though.
Summers with Juliette, the debut novel by Emily Madden, was inspired by her own aunt's cancer diagnosis. The summary says: "No matter where, no matter when, no matter what. Almost twenty years ago, on a beautiful coastal cliff, Juliette Cole, Anna Kendall and Sera Di Maggio linked pinkies and made a vow to be there for each other no matter what might happen in their lives. Now Juliette is calling in the promise - terminally ill, she wants her two friends to come back to Ellesmere to help her through her last summer. The trouble is Anna and Sera haven't spoken in years, and Anna hasn't returned home since she and her mother were run out of town in disgrace. But Anna and Sera do have one thing in common: they want Juliette to fight her cancer by any means possible. When they realise the only way may be to find a man called Noah, they reluctantly agree to put aside their differences and search for him. But, as Anna and Sera discover, sometimes facing the past is the best way to face the future, and perhaps the only way they will find the strength for their last summer with Juliette." Summers with Juliette is out in January 2016.