Big Summer

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner was published in 2020. Jennifer Weiner is a New York Times bestselling author of 19 novels popularly known as “beach reads.” Weiner’s novels are characterized by their fast-paced plots, relatable contemporary characters, and exploration of female experiences and friendships. Weiner’s 2002 novel In Her Shoes was adapted into a popular 2005 film starring Toni Collette and Cameron Diaz.

Big Summer is a contemporary novel that is part murder mystery, part bildungsroman, or coming-of-age story. It follows the narrator Daphne, who learns how to truly love her plus-sized body. Daphne’s first-person narration places the reader in her experience as she navigates shame, low self-esteem, and the shocking murder of her former friend, the beautiful Drue Cavanaugh. Big Summer criticizes the negative impacts of social media, the destructive nature of body norms, and the judgment of others in a world where in-person connection is avoided in favor of online relationships.

Divided into three parts, Weiner uses plot twists to create tension, propel momentum, and question the intentions of the characters.

Please be aware that this study guide addresses potentially triggering issues that include body shaming, emotional abuse, and sexist language.

Plot Summary

Daphne is a part-time nanny and social media influencer. Her blog and Instagram account promotes body positivity and advertises plus-sized fashion. Despite the confidence she displays online, Daphne is riddled with low self-esteem. She desperately wants to be loved and respected for her heart and talent but is constantly disappointed by men who can’t get past her weight. She is also haunted by the traumas of her childhood friendship with a woman named Drue.

Drue Cavanaugh is the heiress to a long-standing Manhattan fortune. She fits every stereotype of American beauty, and her wealth and family name allow her to treat the world as her playground. She uses girls who worship her to do the work she would rather avoid. But Drue is also lonely and receives little love and support from her family. Her father Robert is known for his summer affairs in Cape Cod, which lead to children that Drue never meets. Drue and Daphne meet in the sixth grade when Daphne’s parents help secure a scholarship for her to the prestigious Lathrop school. Daphne instantly falls under Drue’s spell despite the warnings of her friend Darshi.

For years, Daphne and Drue use one another in a friendship that is based on envy. Daphne is eager to do Drue’s every bidding because being with Drue makes Daphne feel special. Drue manipulates Daphne but is also envious of Daphne’s home life. Their friendship is ruined when, at age 19, the girls go out and Drue sets Daphne up with a handsome and wealthy friend. Daphne discovers that Drue sets up the date because she feels sorry for Daphne, and that the man is not at all interested in Daphne. Daphne stops speaking to Drue, and for years they don’t talk. But Drue also creates a social media career. Her wealth and connections enable Drue to launch an influencer career while Daphne’s social media career is relegated to body positivity subcultures. Daphne eventually moves in with Darshi and spends her twenties training herself to be proud of her body.

When Drue comes back into Daphne’s life, Daphne is in a good space. Leela, a fashion designer, has recently hired Daphne to model her plus-size line. Drue tracks Daphne down and asks her to be the maid of honor at her wedding. Drue has some fame and definite wealth, but she has few friends. Despite her past traumas and Darshi’s warnings, Daphne agrees to attend the wedding when Drue offers her money. Photo opportunities at Drue’s wedding will surely give more exposure to Leela’s fashion brand. Drue and Daphne strike a deal and Daphne travels to Cape Cod for the socialite wedding of the year.

The Cavanaughs host an incredibly expensive party the night before the wedding. Out of place at such a fancy event, Daphne strikes up a conversation with a handsome man named Nick who claims to have known Drue as children at sailing camp. Daphne overhears an argument between Drue and her father about money, and Daphne comforts Drue after the party. On her way out of Drue’s room, Daphne runs into a man who lurks around the rooms and quickly disappears. Daphne spends the night with Nick and wakes up to Drue floating dead in the hot tub attached to Daphne’s room. Nick is nowhere to be found.

Detective McMichaels interrogates Daphne. He reveals that the wedding had been elaborately planned with companies that would advertise their goods on Drue and her groom’s social media platforms. Darshi drives to Cape Cod from an academic conference in Boston to support Daphne. Detective McMichaels arrests Emma Vincent, a caterer, for the murder of Drue Cavanaugh. Darshi and Daphne find Nick hiding in another room. He denies killing Drue and explains that he left early in the morning because he was worried someone would find him and realize that he had not been invited to the wedding. Nick had grown up in the house that was rented for the wedding. His mother had owned the house but been murdered when Nick was still a child. Nick was adopted by his aunt and her husband, and when he heard that Drue’s wedding would take place near the house, he decided to crash so he could revisit his childhood home.

Daphne, Darshi, and Nick track down Emma’s mother, who quickly identifies Nick. She explains that Emma is Robert Cavanaugh’s child, as is Nick. Both their mothers had had brief affairs with Robert many years ago.

Lily, Drue’s mother, is hospitalized for a breakdown. Daphne visits her. She overhears a conversation between Stuart and a woman he had proposed to on a dating show he’d starred in. Daphne confronts him and Stuart admits that the wedding had been a set-up. Drue needed to get married to receive her trust fund early, so she and Stuart agreed to marry for the money and the public notoriety. The plan had been to have a wedding that would have earned them even more publicity, then divorce a couple of years later.

Emma is eventually released when the cause of death is found to be poison. At the Lathrop school’s memorial for Drue, Daphne spots the mysterious man from the deck but is intercepted by Detective McMichaels before she can speak to him. Detective McMichaels is on the search for Drue’s killer. He reveals that many people, including Daphne, would have benefitted from Drue’s death. Six months before her wedding, Drue had changed her will to leave her millions to charity, Daphne, and all of Robert’s children (including those born out of wedlock). With suspicion recast on her, Daphne is determined to track down Drue’s murderer.

Daphne, Darshi, and Nick find the mystery man from the deck on Drue’s social media. His name is Aditya, a data scientist whose physical description and lack of wealth hardly makes him boyfriend material for Drue. They visit him in Connecticut to confront him. Aditya is a kind man who reveals that he and Drue had been in love. Drue had been working hard to give back to the community when she met Aditya, and she fell in love with him in part because she knew that he didn’t like her only for her family money. Ultimately, Drue broke up with Aditya because she succumbed to the pressure to marry someone like Stuart. Aditya proposes that someone who had been wronged by Drue could have killed her.

Daphne searches through old pictures of Drue’s life to try to find someone who could have hated Drue enough to kill her. Daphne realizes that a girl from Drue’s high school, who had taken the SATs for Drue and been expelled, was none other than Leela. Leela confronts Daphne in her apartment after tracking Daphne’s movements through social media. Leela admits to hiring a man to poison Drue. Leela’s entire life had been dismantled by her expulsion. Her family stopped talking to her, all her college acceptances had been rescinded, and Leela even spent time in a psychiatric ward. Determined to get revenge against Drue, Leela changed her looks and life to become a sophisticated and trendy fashion designer; this would give her the connections and resources to get close to Drue. She even hired Daphne knowing that Daphne and Drue used to be friends. Leela reveals that she will kill Daphne and stage the death as a suicide. Daphne fights back, and Nick arrives just in time to make sure Daphne is safe.

Leela is arrested for Drue’s murder. Daphne finds pride in her body, the body that was strong enough to fight for her life. She and Nick fall in love and start planning their future together. Daphne finds peace with her resentments against Drue, whom she now views as a lonely woman who died without being truly known by anyone except Aditya.