1. At her father’s funeral, a neighbor says to Emilia, “Do you know what your trouble is, Emmie?...You’ve always wanted to be one of them. You think you’re too smart for us.” Is that fair? What do you make of the social hierarchy of Winthrop Island? Does Emilia successfully bridge the separate communities of the summer people and the year-rounders?

2. Was Emilia’s father wrong not to take the Peabodys up on their offer to send Emilia to college? How would that have affected the dynamic between the two families? Why does Olive tell Emilia she’ll revive the offer and even help send Emilia to college herself?

3. How does Emilia reckon with the shocking discovery of her father’s affair with Aunt Benedita? What would you have done in her shoes?

4. How does Sumner Fox convince Emilia to participate in uncovering Olive’s espionage? What did Emilia sacrifice in order to collaborate with the FBI? Do you think she would have done it if she had known what she was setting in motion?

5. Olive repeatedly tells Emilia, “You reminded me of myself,” and Emilia recalls Shep saying, “You always reminded me of [Olive].” What similarities do the two women share? How do they differ?

6. Emilia’s father chides her: “You think the world’s changed and maybe it has. But people are the same. People don’t change.” Do you agree? Do the characters in this book evolve as the narrative unfolds? Is the Emilia of 1954 different from the Emilia of 1946?

7. What did you make of the revelation that Emilia’s mother had chosen her father because she mistakenly thought he was from a wealthy summer family instead of a working-class year-rounder? How did learning that truth affect Emilia’s perception of her family?

8. When Olive confesses to murdering Emilia’s mother, she tells Emilia, “…One day you’ll understand. One day you’ll thank me for all of this.” Why would Olive say that? Do you think there is any truth to her Marxist-influenced belief that the end always justifies the means?

9. Olive is ultimately traded to the Soviets in exchange for the American spy Sasha Digby, whose story features prominently in Beatriz Williams’ previous novel, OUR WOMAN IN MOSCOW. Have you read that novel? Did you recognize the continuation of that story THE BEACH AT SUMMERLY?

10. Who do you think sent the mysterious package that Emilia receives at the end of the novel? What is the significance of the enclosed speech titled On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences?

11. What do you think will happen to the characters in this book in the years after it ends? What does the rest of the 20th century hold for them?