By Melissa Brayden
Two women reunite in a small strawberry-farming town.
Subject
Themes
Margaret Beringer grows up on her family's strawberry farm in Tanner Peak, California, a self-deprecating girl who calls herself boring and finds safety in routine. Everything changes during her junior year when Courtney Carrington transfers to her school from Chicago. Courtney is the daughter of a department store magnate, polished and confident, but she gravitates toward Margaret rather than the popular crowd, drawn to the warmth of the Beringer household that her own fractured family cannot provide. Their friendship deepens quickly: moonlight swims at the creek, a road trip to Santa Barbara, long conversations about the Beatles and ambition. At a beach party, after Margaret mistakenly encourages a boy to kiss Courtney, Courtney responds by kissing Margaret instead. "Get it now?" she whispers, and Margaret does.
Margaret Beringer grows up on her family's strawberry farm in Tanner Peak, California, a self-deprecating girl who calls herself boring and finds safety in routine. Everything changes during her junior year when Courtney Carrington transfers to her school from Chicago. Courtney is the daughter of a…
Published in 2017, Strawberry Summer belongs to a wave of lesbian romance novels that consciously moved away from the angst-driven narratives dominating earlier LGBTQ+ fiction. For decades, stories centred on queer women frequently ended in tragedy, isolation, or forced heterosexuality, a tradition…
Margaret Beringer's life is shaped by a recurring pattern that Berta names plainly: a vicious cycle of fear. Each loss reinforces Margaret's conviction that the safest path is emotional retreat, and each retreat costs her something she cannot afford to lose. The pattern begins before the central…
Tanner Peak operates as a dual symbol throughout the narrative: it is simultaneously the source of Margaret's greatest strength and the cage that prevents her from growing. The strawberry farm, the creek, the cottage, the familiar rhythms of small-town life all provide the warmth and belonging that…
Tanner Peak is not a hostile place for queer people, and this deliberate choice shapes the story's treatment of sexuality in important ways. Margaret comes out to her family and is met with applause. Berta supports her without hesitation. Travis takes the news of her relationship with Courtney in…
Communication failures drive nearly every crisis in the story, and the moments of deepest pain are almost always moments of silence. Margaret and Courtney love each other throughout the narrative, but their inability to speak honestly at critical junctures creates a chain of misunderstandings,…
Clay Beringer dies in the thirteenth chapter, but his presence pervades the entire second half of the story. He is invoked in nearly every significant conversation, his absence shapes every decision Margaret makes, and his memory ultimately provides the catalyst for her transformation. The narrative…
Margaret Beringer is a self-deprecating, deeply loyal young woman whose life is anchored to her family's strawberry farm in Tanner Peak, California. From the moment she stands before her history class to deliver a shaky presentation on Abraham Lincoln, she establishes herself as someone who…
Courtney Carrington arrives in Tanner Peak as the polished, confident daughter of a department store magnate, but her composure masks a childhood defined by emotional neglect and domestic violence. Her mother Beverly sleeps constantly and is red-eyed and withdrawn; her father Mitch is controlling,…
Berta is Margaret's cousin, closest confidante, and the most emotionally perceptive person in the story. From the opening pages, she occupies the seat beside Margaret at the school lunch table, and she never moves from that position of steadfast loyalty throughout the decades that follow. Where…
Melanie Newcastle begins the story as an antagonist of sorts: the social gatekeeper of Tanner Peak High School who swoops in to claim Courtney for the popular crowd before Margaret can establish a friendship. She is polished, confident, and territorial, representing everything Margaret believes she…
Margaret Beringer is a self-deprecating junior at Tanner Peak High School, living on her family's strawberry farm in rural California. She dreads giving a history class presentation on Abraham Lincoln, and her nerves only worsen when a new student is introduced mid-speech: Courtney Carrington, a…
Two days after the kiss at the beach, Margaret seeks dating advice from her brother Clay. She tells him she likes a girl, and he takes the news in stride, offering practical tips about small touches. Their mother overhears and is thrilled; their father rounds the corner equally supportive.…
Berta arrives at Margaret's door in tears with a bombshell: she is pregnant with Travis's baby after a one-night encounter in the park. Margaret realises that Travis's recent awkward behaviour was about Berta, not Courtney, and she encourages her cousin to tell him. Berta decides to keep the baby…
Margaret's parents reluctantly accept her plan to move to Chicago. Her father voices concern about the Carrington name, but both agree to support her. When Margaret arrives to pick up Courtney for a drink, she overhears Mitch through the open door, calling Margaret a "whore" and threatening to cut…
Margaret arrives at work in an unusually good mood and meets Courtney for their rental consult. Courtney, casual in jeans with her hair down, rejects three properties for various flaws: not enough character, too little natural light, a master bedroom too small. She catches Margaret lying about…
Margaret debriefs with Berta at the coffee shop, unable to hide the glow from her night with Courtney. Berta immediately guesses what happened and challenges Margaret's insistence that the arrangement is casual. She argues that Margaret's real problem is not geography but fear: losing Clay made her…
Margaret Beringer is a self-deprecating, deeply loyal young woman whose life is anchored to her family's strawberry farm in Tanner Peak, California. From the moment she stands before her history class to deliver a shaky presentation on Abraham Lincoln, she establishes herself as someone who…
Courtney Carrington arrives in Tanner Peak as the polished, confident daughter of a department store magnate, but her composure masks a childhood defined by emotional neglect and domestic violence. Her mother Beverly sleeps constantly and is red-eyed and withdrawn; her father Mitch is controlling,…
Berta is Margaret's cousin, closest confidante, and the most emotionally perceptive person in the story. From the opening pages, she occupies the seat beside Margaret at the school lunch table, and she never moves from that position of steadfast loyalty throughout the decades that follow. Where…
Melanie Newcastle begins the story as an antagonist of sorts: the social gatekeeper of Tanner Peak High School who swoops in to claim Courtney for the popular crowd before Margaret can establish a friendship. She is polished, confident, and territorial, representing everything Margaret believes she…
By Melissa Brayden
Subject
Themes
Margaret Beringer grows up on her family's strawberry farm in Tanner Peak, California, a self-deprecating girl who calls herself boring and finds safety in routine. Everything changes during her junior year when Courtney Carrington transfers to her school from Chicago. Courtney is the daughter of a department store magnate, polished and confident, but she gravitates toward Margaret rather than the popular crowd, drawn to the warmth of the Beringer household that her own fractured family cannot provide. Their friendship deepens quickly: moonlight swims at the creek, a road trip to Santa Barbara, long conversations about the Beatles and ambition. At a beach party, after Margaret mistakenly encourages a boy to kiss Courtney, Courtney responds by kissing Margaret instead. "Get it now?" she whispers, and Margaret does.