By LaKeshia N. Myers
Rep. LaKeshia Myers
As is my summer habit, I try to read at least three books for pleasure. Despite all the summer activities I had ahead of me, I took the time to read (or in this case, listen to, thanks to Audible) a book I had been looking forward to reading since last summer. The book was “Summer on Highland Beach” by talk show host and attorney Sunny Hostin.
This book, the third installment in her “Summer Beach Series,” focuses on the town of Highland Beach, Maryland. The town was founded in the late 1800s by wealthy African Americans from Washington, DC and Baltimore seeking a summer getaway on the Chesapeake Bay. In 1893, Major Charles Remond Douglass, Frederick Douglass’ son, and his wife Laura were turned away from a restaurant at the nearby Bay Ridge resort because of their race. After being turned away, Major Douglass decided to buy beachfront property just south of Bay Ridge and sell lots to family and friends.
Maj. Douglass purchased a 40-acre property with 500 feet of beachfront on the Chesapeake Bay from Daniel Brashears, a black farmer and fisherman from Anne Arundel County, and made it a summer home. He had two houses built – one for himself, his wife and their children, and one as a retirement home for his father, Frederick Douglass, known as “Twin Oaks.” Although the elder Douglass died before the house was completed, it still stands and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Hostin’s book continues the story of Olivia Jones, a central character from her previous books. This book focuses on her coming to terms with her identity and her connection to abolitionist Frederick Douglass. The story is a mix of drama, complex love stories, forgiveness, and the understanding that the past (even a hidden past) can be a prologue.
Sunny Hostin is a brilliant author. Her ability to weave historical notes into prose is exemplary. Highland Beach served as the perfect literary setting for the story. It helped me overcome my own summer beach withdrawal, as I didn’t travel to Martha’s Vineyard this year. All in all, this book is a 10/10, I definitely recommend it.
