Maine Characters

A Novel

De: Hannah Orenstein

Narrado por: Mara Wilson

A May 2025 LibraryReads Pick

Named Most Anticipated by Today.com, New York Post and Bustle

From beloved author Hannah Orenstein, this love letter to lake life is “the Parent Trap for adults,” the story of two half-sisters who meet for the first time at their father’s cabin in Maine after his unexpected death.

Every summer, Vivian Levy and Lucy Webster spend a month with their father at his lake house—separately. Raised in New York City, Vivian is an ambitious sommelier with a secret that could derail her future. Lucy grew up in a tiny Maine town, where she now teaches high school English while watching her marriage unravel. They’ve never met. While Lucy envied her half-sister from afar, their father kept Vivian in the dark.

When Vivian arrives at the lake to spread his ashes and sell his cabin, she's shocked to find Lucy there, awaiting his return. In an ideal world, they’d help each other through their grief. Instead, forced to spend the summer together, they fight through a storm of suspicion and hostility to untangle the messy truth about their parents’ pasts. While Lucy is desperate to hold onto the house, Vivian is scrambling after a betrayal. After thirty years apart, is it too late for them to be a family?

For fans of Carley Fortune and Elin Hilderbrand, this sister story set on a lush lake brims with the undeniable heart, depth, charm, and humor that have endeared Hannah Orenstein to legions of fans.

©2025 Hannah Orenstein (P)2025 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Hannah Orenstein crafts a story about love and family that’s poignant, funny, and impossible to put down. Maine Characters is a perfect summer by a lake distilled into book form. Even if you’re not reading it in an Adirondack chair with a very good glass of wine, Hannah Orenstein’s writing will make you feel like you are."—Dana Schwartz, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anatomy: A Love Story

"Every family has secrets, but this father has a whole secret family. Maine Characters is a juicy, escapist read—a grown-up Parent Trap, only with affairs and great wine."—Jo Piazza, nationally bestselling author of The Sicilian Inheritance

"Hannah Orenstein writes wonderfully about family, and this novel makes me want to drop everything and move to Maine."—Gary Shteyngart New York Times bestselling author of Lake Success

Her best yet

I have followed Hannah Orenstein since her first novel came out. She is an incredibly strong, talented writer in a way that isn’t easy find these days. Maine Characters is my favorite book of Orenstein’s yet. It is a wonderful summer read, a perfect sunshine book. The characters are well developed and realistic. The cast isn’t huge but you don’t notice because everyone is so whole. As someone who read her first book in 2018, it’s so fun to read this one and see how much she’s grown. So good!!