A sparkling new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Beach House

Jane Green's last novel, The Beach House, was an instant New York Times bestseller and captured her largest audience yet. From the sunny green lawns of Connecticut to the cafés of London to the sandy beaches of Nantucket, Green draws from her own life to craft each delicious story and the resulting tales resonate with women everywhere.

Dune Road is another fun and fearless adventure that will take Green's many fans from laughter to tears and back again. The novel is set in the beach community of a tony Connecticut town. Our heroine is a single mom who works for a famous-and famously reclusive-novelist. When she stumbles on a secret that the great man has kept hidden for years, she knows that there are plenty of women in town who would love to get their hands on it-including some who fancy the writer for themselves. Dune Road is the story of life in an exclusive beach town after the tourists have left for the summer and the eccentric (and moneyed) community sticks around. Dune Road will surely be the book to pack in beach bags next summer.

2. Dune Road offers a wide range of characters at different crucial moments in their lives. With which characters do you most identify? Which characters do you find most provocative?
3. What significance does the idea of feminine identity have in this book? In what ways does the book stray from female archetypes we see in other literature and media? In what ways does it agree with them?
4. The community of Highfield seems as much a character as any of the protagonists in the book. What role does social status play in Dune Road? How much pressure does it put on each character, if at all, and how does it drive their actions?
5. Annabel says, during a discussion with Kit, that “we are either born addicts, or not.” Do you agree with this sentiment? What significance does fate have in the lives of Dune Road’s characters?
6. Kit and Edie have a conversation regarding the nature of marriage in which Kit bemoans the imperfections of her marriage to Adam while Edie argues that “a lot of the time that’s all marriage is.” With whom do you agree? Do you consider, as Kit often worries throughout the book, her reconciliation with Adam as a “step backward?”
7. How does Kit’s lonely childhood reflect in her adult life? How does Tracy’s experience with domestic abuse inform who she is? What role does these characters’ upbringing have in their lives?
8. Charlie and Keith suffer great loss at the hands of the economic recession. How do you feel about Charlie’s anger toward Keith? Do you see Keith as a victim or as the guilty party? How important is it to you to share financial responsibility in a relationship?
9. Two of the central themes of this book are loss and rebirth. How do you feel each of the characters handles loss? How important is the idea of reinvention to you?
10. What are the moral implications of Adam and Annabel’s affair? Do you feel they were in the right to pursue each other or did they cross the line?
11. One of the most surprising things about Tracy’s reconnection with Jed is that she sought him out on the Internet, despite a history of abuse. What does this say about the complex relationship between the abused and the abuser? What’s your opinion of Tracy’s actions throughout the book and how much control do you believe she had over her choices? Were they choices at all?
12. How have these characters changed during the course of the book? What surprised you about the ending? What future do you see for each of the characters?

• January 2012 Indie Next List
• December 2011 Indie Next List
• November 2011 Indie Next List