Summers at the Saint

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of rape, child death, anti-gay bias, and death.

“She glimpsed the improbable pink turrets and crenelated towers rising up from the fog-shrouded marsh, like something out of one of her storybooks.”

This image captures the awe that Traci feels as a child when she first glimpses the Saint and sees it as a fairy-tale castle. Her perception of it as a nearly magical place will be greatly altered by the time she takes over running the place.

“[Charlie] had worked for the Eddings family all this time; he knew where all the bodies were buried. Literally. Like her, he’d grown up in the business. Traci knew he’d do whatever it took to keep the Saint afloat. Just as she would.”

The opening chapter establishes Traci’s main character goal, which is her investment in keeping the Saint a profitable business. She assumes that she has an ally in Charlie Burroughs, the general manager, though this turns out not to be the case. The hint at buried bodies foreshadows the later discovery that Charlie has been embezzling money from the Saint for some time.

“No. Absolutely not. You’re not going anywhere near that place, and you’re not going to work for that family. Ever. Do you hear me?”

Shannon’s level of distress when Livvy says she wants to work at the Saint establishes suspense; it is unclear why Shannon hates the place with such passion—one of the novel’s mysteries. Shannon’s attempt to keep Livvy away proves futile; Livvy not only proves to have a talent for hospitality but also inherits part ownership of the resort and becomes deeply involved in the business when her relationship with the Eddings family is revealed.