Loss of Innocence

June, 1968.

America is in a state of turbulence, engulfed in civil unrest and uncertainty. Yet for Whitney Dane - spending the summer of her twenty-second year on Martha's Vineyard - life could not be safer, nor the future more certain.

Educated at Wheaton, soon to be married, and the youngest daughter of the patrician Dane family, Whitney has everything she has ever wanted, and is everything her all-powerful and doting father, Charles Dane, wants her to be.

But the Vineyard's still waters are disturbed by the appearance of Benjamin Blaine. An underprivileged, yet fiercely ambitious and charismatic young man, Blaine is a force of nature neither Whitney nor her family could have prepared for.

As Ben's presence begins to awaken independence within Whitney, it also brings deep-rooted Dane tensions to a dangerous head. And soon Whitney's set-in-stone future becomes far from satisfactory, and her picture-perfect family far from pretty.

A sweeping family drama of dark secrets and individual awakenings, set during the most consequential summer of recent American history.

“'A stunning tour de force. Martha's Vineyard, with its heartbreaking beauty, is the ideal setting for an engrossing drama of a so-called perfect family riven by its secrets' Linda Fairstein.”

'A snapshot of America at a pivotal moment in history, and a beautifully written coming-of-age novel' Lady Antonia Fraser. Lady Antonia Fraser
Linda Fairstein
'This may be Richard North Patterson's best work: surprising and different, yet with the same ability to penetrate the minds of others - especially women, which is a rare gift' Stephen Fry. Stephen Fry

Richard North Patterson is the author of twenty bestselling novels. He lives in Martha's Vineyard, Cabo San Lucas and San Francisco with his wife, Dr Nancy Clair.

June, 1968. American is in a state of turbulence, engulfed in civil unrest and uncertainty. Yet for Whitney Dane - spending the summer of her twenty-first year on Martha's Vineyard, soon to be married and the youngest daughter of the patrician Dane family - life could not be safer, nor the future more certain. Whitney has everything she has ever wanted, and is everything her all-powerful and doting father, Charles Dane, wants her to be. But the Vineyard's still waters are disturbed by the appearance of Benjamin Blaine. An underprivileged, yet fiercely ambitious and charismatic young man, Blaine is a force of nature neither Whitney nor her family could have prepared for. As Ben's presence begins to awaken independence within Whitney, it also brings deep-rooted Dan tensions to a dangerous head. And soon Whitney's gilded future becomes far from certain, and her picture-perfect family far from pretty.

June, 1968. America is in a state of turbulence, engulfed in civil unrest and uncertainty. Yet for Whitney Dane - spending the summer of her twenty-second year on Martha's Vineyard - life could not be safer, nor the future more certain. Educated at Wheaton, soon to be married, and the youngest daughter of the patrician Dane family, Whitney has everything she has ever wanted, and is everything her all-powerful and doting father, Charles Dane, wants her to be. But the Vineyard's still waters are disturbed by the appearance of Benjamin Blaine. An underprivileged, yet fiercely ambitious and charismatic young man, Blaine is a force of nature neither Whitney nor her family could have prepared for. As Ben's presence begins to awaken independence within Whitney, it also brings deep-rooted Dane tensions to a dangerous head. And soon Whitney's set-in-stone future becomes far from satisfactory, and her picture-perfect family far from pretty. A sweeping family drama of dark secrets and individual awakenings, set during the most consequential summer of recent American history.

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