Introduction

Every Summer After (2022) is a romance novel by Carley Fortune, a Canadian writer, editor, and award-winning journalist. The story follows 30-year-old Persephone “Percy” Fraser, who reconnects with Sam Florek, a man who was once her best friend and lover, after his mother passes away. Every Summer After is Fortune’s debut novel and an international bestseller (Carley Fortune). In alternating chapters that flick between Percy and Sam’s teenage romance and their reunion years later as adults, the novel explores themes of friendship and first love, miscommunication in relationships, and honesty and forgiveness in love. Fortune's other novels include This Summer Will Be Different (2024) and Meet Me at the Lake (2023).

This guide is based on the Little, Brown Kindle Edition of Every Summer After.

Plot Summary

When Persephone “Percy” Fraser is 13 years old, her parents buy a summer cottage in Barry’s Bay. They drive up from Toronto for the summer, and Percy befriends the two boys who live next door: Sam Florek, the same age as her, and his older brother, Charlie. The boys’ mother, Sue, owns and runs a local restaurant called the Tavern.

Percy and Sam quickly grow close over the course of that first summer and become best friends. Sam also helps Percy feel better about falling out with her friend Delilah. Sam’s and Percy’s families meet over Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, and Percy and Sam eagerly await the summers, which they spend largely in each other’s company, swimming or rafting on the lake, or watching horror movies. Percy soon realizes that she has a crush on Sam.

When Percy is nearly 16, Delilah, now friends with her again, sets her up on a date with Mason, Delilah’s cousin. Mason eventually asks Percy to be his girlfriend. Confused, Percy asks Sam for advice and, in the course of the conversation, reveals that she likes someone else more. Percy also begins working at the Tavern that summer, wanting to spend more time with Sam. She and Sam discuss Mason, whom Percy is dating but who is still not officially her boyfriend.

One night, when her parents are away, Percy watches a horror movie and is too scared to sleep in the cottage alone; she stays over at the Floreks’ and shares Sam’s bed. Sam needles her into admitting that the person she likes more than Mason is Sam, and they end up kissing. However, at the end of summer break, Sam tells Percy that they shouldn’t rush into a relationship, as it could distract from their academic pursuits.

Percy and Mason make things official when she returns home. The following summer, Mason, Delilah, and Delilah’s boyfriend, Patel, visit the cottage for a week while Percy is staying. Sam is jealous and uncomfortable watching Mason and Percy together. He admits he doesn’t want to wait to be with her anymore. Percy eventually breaks things off with Mason, and she and Sam begin officially dating.

Throughout senior year, Percy drives up to the cottage on free weekends to spend time with Sam. Percy gets into the University of Toronto, while Sam is accepted as a premed student at Queen’s in Kingston, a few hours away. Sam invites Percy to prom with him, where he breaks the news that instead of having all summer with her, he is leaving in three weeks, as he has been accepted into an exclusive program for premed students.

After Sam leaves for the program, Charlie tries to cheer up a morose Percy. Meanwhile, Sam becomes distant and uncommunicative as he is overwhelmed by the demands of the program. Feeling insecure and unwanted, Percy responds to Charlie’s overtures and sleeps with him; she regrets it immediately after and has a panic attack. Percy resolves to tell Sam what happened when they meet over Thanksgiving break. However, when Sam proposes to her, she is unable to tell him the truth and so breaks up with him instead. Percy’s parents sell their cottage that same year.

Twelve years later, Percy is an editor living and working in Toronto. She receives an unexpected phone call from Charlie, with news that Sue has passed away. Percy immediately agrees to return for the funeral, though she hasn’t been to Barry’s Bay since breaking up with Sam. Over the weekend, she reconnects with Sam and Charlie, and the romantic connection between her and Sam is still palpable.

Sam eventually tells Percy that he has never stopped loving her, and they sleep together. After, Percy finally tells him the truth about why she broke up with him, and Sam reveals that he has known all these years: When Sam was having a hard time following their breakup, Charlie told him the truth in a bid to help him understand. Sam spent a long time drinking and sleeping around, trying to hurt Percy the same way that she hurt him, but eventually he stopped and the anger dissipated.

Percy apologizes to Sam, and he, in turn, apologizes for never having told her how much he has loved her since the first time they met. The two reconcile and eventually move in together in Toronto. A year after Sue’s death, Percy accompanies the brothers to spread Sue’s ashes on the lake by the cottage. Later that night, Percy plans to ask Sam to marry her.