Never the Same: That Summer by Jennifer Weiner

I believe this is Jennifer Weiner's strongest novel. She has come so far in her writing career with this incisive book.

Diana, an attractive woman nearing 50, who manages a popular, upscale restaurant in Provincetown, Massachusetts, was once an intelligent, ambitious teenager who convinced her Boston parents to allow her to spend a summer on Cape Cod working as a mother's helper for a wealthy novelist/college professor and her husband, who own a large, beautiful second home with panoramic views.

Daisy, whose husband gave her that pet name in place of her own, also Diana, is a suburban Philadelphia wife, and the mother of Beatrice, a rebellious teenager. Daisy, in her early 30s, is an accomplished cook, and runs a small catering business out of her very comfortable home, while her husband, Hal, an older and very successful lawyer, rules the roost in subtle and not-so-subtle ways.

How, where, and why their lives converge is the focus of the story, which examines the lives and roles of girls and women, friendship, sexual mores and tensions, power issues between men and women, and the devastating trauma that results from date rape.