51 pages • 1 hour read
The Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club
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Chapters 8-19Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness, graphic violence, and death.
Chapter 8 Summary: “Briar”
Using the German codes, Briar returns to Mr. Schmidt’s home and opens the box. She finds two unsettling photos: The first is of Nazis in the woods, and the other of a German house near streets named after Hitler and Hermann Göring (an elite Nazi figure and former fighter pilot). Briar also finds a Nazi “honor ring” featuring an inscription to a mysterious “Kuno.”
Briar plans to take the items to Sandra Grander, the 80-year-old owner of Island Treasures—a shop that specializes in war memorabilia. Briar trusts Sandra, who was friends with Mr. Schmidt. Using Mr. Schmidt’s binoculars, Briar spots a U-boat below the Army base. She calls it in, but the Coast Guard makes fun of her and tells her to socialize with people her own age.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Cadence”
Cadence, Bess, Margaret, and Gram have another book club meeting. After discussing The Song of Bernadette, Cadence mentions producing pocket-size books for soldiers to carry. They put book titles in an empty cookie jar, and Gram pulls out Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises (1926). They then produce a prototype.
Finished with the book, Bess and Cadence attend a USO (United Services Organization) dance, where Cadence has a flirty exchange with Major Gilbert, who hints that he’ll avoid Cadence’s land if Cadence writes a positive portrayal of the soldiers to counter ill feelings they may cause if they damage land belonging to residents.
