The Summer Before We Left: A Novel

They thought they were just working summer jobs. They didn’t know the summer would change everything. Milo Ford and Noelle Serrano are biding their time in Paxville, working one last summer at Thornbrook Country Club and saving every tip for escape. Best friends juggling chaos at home with chaos at work, they’ve fixed their eyes on Chicago and the life they’re determined to build. Together they’ve made a pact: survive the summer, save enough, and get out. But Thornbrook isn’t just golf tees and country club gossip. Keys vanish. Carts turn up where they shouldn’t. Wallets go missing. Whispers spread about secret upstairs rooms and late-night games. And then a fire changes everything. Drawn into secrets they were never supposed to hear, Milo and Noelle discover that surviving Thornbrook isn’t about keeping their heads down—it’s about knowing who to trust before the truth buries them. For fans of One of Us Is Lying and We Were Liars, The Summer Before We Left is a sharp, addictive YA thriller about friendship, betrayal, and the dangerous games privilege plays when no one is watching. View Less