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Order of Nancy Thayer Books
If there’s a name that has quietly but consistently slipped into beach bags, onto nightstands, and into the hearts of readers craving emotional warmth with a coastal breeze, it’s Nancy Thayer. Born on December 14, 1943, in Emporia, Kansas—a place about as landlocked as one can get—Thayer would eventually become synonymous with the soft tides and hard truths of Nantucket Island, a far cry from the prairies of her youth. There’s irony in that alone: a Midwesterner who became the literary lighthouse keeper for coastal drama.
She earned her B.A. in English literature from the University of Missouri, a classic move for someone destined to become a storyteller. But Thayer’s real education came not from classrooms, but from life itself—divorces, motherhood, love, and the inexhaustible well of human emotion. And like any truly great fiction writer, she spun the real into the relatable, offering up stories that read like secrets passed between old friends on porches with iced tea in hand.
Thayer’s writing career didn’t truly blossom until she was in her forties, which is perhaps the most inspiring twist in her narrative. Before she became the queen of island fiction, she was a teacher, a single mother, and a woman staring down the idea that life begins to taper in midlife. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t. In fact, for Thayer, that was just the beginning.
In 1980, she published her debut novel Stepping, and since then, she’s been crafting novels that explore the complexities of relationships—mother-daughter tensions, lifelong friendships, marital tensions, and unexpected romance. Her stories are emotional but never overly sentimental; they hold a mirror to the reader and whisper, “Yes, you too.”
Her fame exploded with her Nantucket novels, each one a cocktail of sunshine, secrets, and second chances. Books like Summer House, The Hot Flash Club series, and Girls of Summer made her a household name for readers who want more than just a summer fling with fiction. They want depth, decisions, and dilemmas wrapped in warm breezes and ocean air.
Nancy Thayer didn’t just write about women—she wrote women. Real women. Messy, beautiful, aging, thriving, aching, celebrating women. And she never pretended they stopped being interesting after forty. If anything, she proved the best stories start after the first few chapters of life have already been written.
Though as of now, Nancy Thayer is still alive and writing (thankfully), her legacy is already inked into the annals of American women’s fiction. Her words carry that rare blend of gentle wisdom and tough love, the literary version of a friend who’ll hold your hand and call you out all at once.
Want to know what happens when past flames return, when long-held secrets resurface, or when the summer rental changes everything? Nancy Thayer’s books have the answers—but only if you’re brave enough to turn the page.
So here’s your cliffhanger: Will the next summer in a Nancy Thayer novel bring reconciliation, romance… or ruin? There’s only one way to find out.
Publication Order of Series Books
Publication Order of The Hot Flash Club
| Title | Year | Amazon Links |
|---|---|---|
| The Hot Flash Club | 2003 | Amazon |
| The Hot Flash Club Strikes Again | 2004 | Amazon |
| Hot Flash Holidays | 2005 | Amazon |
| The Hot Flash Club Chills Out | 2006 | Amazon |
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
| Title | Year | Amazon Links |
|---|---|---|
| Summer Light on Nantucket | 2025 | Amazon |
| The Summer We Started Over | 2024 | Amazon |
| All the Days of Summer | 2023 | Amazon |
| Summer Love | 2022 | Amazon |
| Family Reunion | 2021 | Amazon |
| Girls of Summer | 2020 | Amazon |
| Let It Snow | 2019 | Amazon |
| Surfside Sisters | 2019 | Amazon |
| A Nantucket Wedding | 2018 | Amazon |
| Secrets in Summer | 2017 | Amazon |
| The Island House | 2016 | Amazon |
| The Guest Cottage | 2015 | Amazon |
| An Island Christmas | 2014 | Amazon |
| Nantucket Sisters | 2014 | Amazon |
| A Nantucket Christmas | 2013 | Amazon |
| Island Girls | 2013 | Amazon |
| Summer Breeze | 2012 | Amazon |
| Heat Wave | 2011 | Amazon |
| Beachcombers | 2010 | Amazon |
| Summer House | 2009 | Amazon |
| Moon Shell Beach | 2008 | Amazon |
| Custody | 2001 | Amazon |
| Between Husbands and Friends | 1999 | Amazon |
| An Act of Love | 1997 | Amazon |
| Belonging | 1995 | Amazon |
| Family Secrets | 1993 | Amazon |
| Everlasting | 1991 | Amazon |
| My Dearest Friend | 1989 | Amazon |
| Spirit Lost | 1988 | Amazon |
| Morning | 1987 | Amazon |
| Nell | 1985 | Amazon |
| Bodies and Souls | 1983 | Amazon |
| Three Women at the Water's Edge | 1981 | Amazon |
| Stepping | 1980 | Amazon |