Shannon Garvey’s debut novel, June Baby (2026), is a contemporary coming-of-age story that was selected as a “Read with Jenna” book club pick. The narrative follows Ruth Phillips, a young woman who has spent a decade in a state of emotional and professional stasis following her mother’s death. When her mentor and surrogate mother, the photographer Diana Beckett, also dies suddenly, Ruth returns to the community of Block Island, forcing her to confront a past defined by family secrets and her own deep-seated aimlessness. The novel explores themes of Unresolved Grief as an Obstacle to Progress, The Illusion of the Idyllic Community, and Motherhood as Sacrifice.

Set against the picturesque backdrop of the New England summer destination, the story examines the often-invisible social and economic lines that divide wealthy residents from the seasonal workers who serve them. Ruth’s journey from passive inertia to active self-determination is catalyzed by the discovery of her late mother’s secret life as a talented artist who relinquished her ambitions and a great love. Before publishing her first novel, Garvey received her MFA from the University of New Hampshire and published short fiction in The Saturday Evening Post.

This guide refers to the 2026 Random House First Edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide contain depictions of illness, death, mental illness, suicidal ideation, substance use, emotional abuse, pregnancy termination, sexual content, and cursing.

Plot Summary

In June 2013, 17-year-old Ruth Phillips is sent to Block Island by her father, Joel, just three months after her mother, Maggie, dies of cancer. With help from the local librarian, Bonnie, Ruth finds the secluded cottage of Diana Beckett, a warm but scatterbrained photographer who was a friend of her mother’s. Diana offers Ruth a summer job as her assistant and a place to stay, comforting the girl and telling her that Joel is an “asshole” for sending her away. Ruth begins to settle into a new rhythm on the island, unaware of the deep history connecting Diana and Maggie, or the deep impact the island and Diana’s nephew, Charlie, will have on her life.

Ten years later, in June 2023, Ruth drives to Block Island in a panic after learning of Diana’s sudden death from lung cancer. She feels adrift, haunted by a fight she had with Diana the previous Christmas, where Diana accused her of stalling her life, including her career as a writer, on purpose. Her relationship with Charlie has evolved into a long-distance emotional affair, but they have not spoken in months. After Charlie calls to confirm the funeral details, Ruth resolves to finally confess her love for him. 

To numb her anxiety the night before the service, she attends a party with her best friend, Lucy, and has a one-night stand with Louis, a local fisherman she has a casual history with. The next day, at Diana’s funeral at the house, Ruth’s plan falls apart when Diana’s sister and Charlie’s mother, Lynn, announces that Charlie is engaged to a woman named Nadia, whom he will marry at the house on Labor Day. Devastated, Ruth watches as the house she considered a second home undergoes massive changes. She confronts Lynn about it and is coldly dismissed as an outsider to their family.

Ruth tries to navigate her grief and heartbreak. Charlie and Nadia visit the restaurant where she works, a painfully awkward encounter that solidifies the class and life differences between them. A few days later, Joel informs Ruth he is selling her childhood home, severing her last tie to a stable past. Charlie finds Ruth and, attempting to reconnect, reveals Diana left a box for her. While at the house retrieving it, Ruth discovers a piece of a broken condom from her night with Louis in the bathroom, and a new fear takes root. The next day, on a hike to Black Rock Beach, she and Charlie confront the years of unspoken feelings between them. They almost kiss, but he pulls away when Nadia calls and lies about being alone. That night, Ruth opens the teal box from Diana. Inside are old photographs of a young Maggie and Diana showing clear evidence of their romantic relationship, and a letter confirming they were lovers. Diana had prepared an apartment in New York for Maggie to move into, but Maggie backed out after discovering she was pregnant with Ruth from a brief relationship with Joel. The letter also directs Ruth to a hidden bin in the studio loft containing Maggie’s vivid, powerful paintings, revealing a forgotten artistic talent. While in the loft, Ruth overhears Nadia and Charlie fighting, with Nadia asking if he cannot commit to her because of Ruth.

The tension culminates at a Fourth of July party at Diana’s house. Ruth gets into a major fight with Lucy, who accuses her of wasting her potential and being foolishly fixated on Charlie. During a power outage, Ruth and Charlie retreat to the attic for candles and share a passionate kiss, only to be interrupted by Nadia. The awkwardness spills into a game of Never Have I Ever, where Charlie’s hesitation to claim his love for Nadia in front of the group exposes their rift. After a painful phone call with her father, Ruth leaves the party with Louis, who takes her to his boat. He senses her turmoil and declines to sleep with her, offering comfort instead. The next morning, he confesses his feelings for her, but Ruth, overwhelmed, rejects him and runs away. That night at the restaurant, feeling the pressure of her unresolved life and the new possibility of pregnancy, Ruth deliberately spills a martini on a rude customer and is fired. Adrift, she goes to the beach and witnesses a woman get caught in a riptide, leaving her toddler alone on the shore. Ruth instinctively grabs a boogie board and saves the woman, a harrowing experience that forces her to confront her own passive drift through life and choose to fight for herself.

That evening, Charlie finds Ruth walking on the road. They go back to Diana’s empty house and have sex in the outdoor shower. In the aftermath, they finally confess their love for each other, but acknowledge that their lives have diverged too much; they accept a painful but necessary goodbye. Soon after, Ruth confirms she is pregnant. After a heartfelt conversation with Lucy, she decides to have an abortion. She tells Louis, who offers his unwavering support, but chooses not to tell Charlie. The abortion appointment falls on the same day as the deadline for a major article on Diana that Vogue editor Ethel Bishop had offered her at Diana’s request. Knowing she cannot finish it, she instead writes a raw, personal essay about her summer of grief, love, and self-discovery, sending it to Ethel along with photos she took on Diana’s camera. 

A few days later, Diana’s lawyer calls to inform Ruth that Diana has left her a studio apartment in Bed-Stuy, the very same apartment she had prepared for Maggie. Ruth reconciles with her father, who admits he sent her to Diana because he felt incapable of helping her through her grief. On her 28th birthday, Ruth arrives in her new, sun-drenched New York apartment. As she hangs one of Maggie’s paintings above her bed, Ethel emails, praising her essay and encouraging her to keep writing, providing a list of publications to submit it to. Surrounded by the legacy of the two women who shaped her, Ruth finally feels ready to begin her own life.