a novel by ursula (no, not the sea witch).

Every one of us has been on a family vacation that sounded like a great idea at the time, but after a few days, quarters become a little too close and crazy starts coming out of everyone. This is the basis of Ursula DeYoung's young adult novel, Shorecliff as Richard Killing's large family spends the summer together on the coast of Maine in 1928.

Looking back from an older point-of-view, at thirteen, a very lonely Richard loves the idea of spending the summer with his ten older cousins and all of his aunts and uncles until he begins to notice the obvious jealousy and rivalries amongst them, similar to many families today. Our main character recalls his fascination with his cousins different personalities, and how he developed his own possessive feelings for one cousin in particular, which leads to a regret of a lifetime. Whoa, I think I'll stop there.