Every Summer After

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of illness, death, and mental illness.

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. What do you think Fortune is saying about the nature of first love through Percy and Sam’s enduring connection despite spending 12 years apart?

2. Every Summer After employs alternating timelines between Percy and Sam’s teenage years and their adult reunion. How did this narrative structure impact your reading experience? Does this approach remind you of other romance novels that use dual timelines, such as another of Fortune’s novels, Meet Me at the Lake?

3. Summer lake settings often create a nostalgic backdrop in coming-of-age stories. What elements of the Barry’s Bay setting did you find most effective in establishing the emotional tone of the novel? How did the setting enhance the characters’ experiences?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Percy maintains deep connections to places that feel like home, particularly Barry’s Bay and the lake. What places have held special meaning for you throughout your life? How have they shaped your identity similar to or different from Percy’s connection to the lake?

2. The friendship bracelet serves as a symbol throughout the novel. Have you ever had an object that represented an important relationship in your life? How did its significance change over time?

3. Communication barriers repeatedly cause problems between Percy and Sam. Reflect on a time when miscommunication affected an important relationship in your life. How did you resolve it? What do you wish you had done differently?

4. What lesson do you think Fortune wants readers to take away about honesty and forgiveness through Percy and Sam’s journey?

5. Sam’s dedication to becoming a doctor stems from losing his father to a heart attack. How have personal experiences shaped your own life goals or career choices?

6. Percy and Sam bond over their shared love of horror movies and stories. Think about the relationships in your life that were built on shared interests. How important are common passions in forming deep connections with others?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. The novel depicts Percy’s journey through her teenage years and her professional career as an editor at age 30. How does Fortune’s portrayal of female ambition and career development compare to contemporary societal expectations for women? Does Percy’s story reflect or challenge current views on women’s professional lives?

2. In what ways does Sue’s character challenge or reinforce societal expectations of single working mothers?

3. Consider the contrast between the rural setting of Barry’s Bay and the urban setting of Toronto. How might Percy and Sam’s relationship have developed differently if they had met in an urban setting instead of at a summer cottage? How does the contrast highlight socioeconomic or cultural differences between rural and urban communities?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. Throughout the novel, Fortune uses the friendship bracelet as a symbol of Percy and Sam’s connection. How does this physical object evolve in meaning from the beginning to the end of the story? What makes this symbol particularly effective for this narrative?

2. The motif of swimming across the lake appears throughout the story and mirrors Percy and Sam’s relationship. What significance does swimming hold in the novel? How does Percy’s ability or inability to complete the swim reflect her emotional state?

3. How have Sam and Percy’s shared love of horror movies shaped their relationship from childhood to adulthood? What do Fortune’s allusions to horror movies like Evil Dead contribute to the narrative themes?

4. Fortune’s decision to alternate between past and present creates a dual narrative structure. Examine how this technique builds tension and reveals character development. What information does Fortune strategically withhold or reveal through this structure?

5. Percy’s panic attacks represent physical manifestations of her emotional trauma. Explore how Fortune uses bodily responses to psychological distress throughout the novel. What does this suggest about the relationship between emotional and physical well-being?

6. Romance tropes like friends-to-lovers and second-chance-romance appear throughout the story. Analyze how Fortune either reinforces or subverts these familiar patterns. Does the novel offer fresh perspectives on these common romantic narratives?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. Imagine Percy had been honest with Sam about sleeping with Charlie when he proposed. Write an alternative ending to their teenage relationship and consider how their lives might have unfolded differently.

2. Design a friendship bracelet that represents a significant relationship in your life, explaining your choice of colors and patterns and how they reflect your connection.

3. Write a letter from  Percy to Sam describing the status of their relationship five years after the Epilogue.

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