Publication Date: June 3, 2025
Does your past define your destiny? Told through multiple perspectives, rich with emotion and immersive dual timelines, The Summer We Ran weaves together a story of lost love, devastating secrets, shocking sabotage, and the painstaking decision two people must make in order to fulfill the futures they each desire.
In the summer of 1996, Tess Murphy’s mom gave her two rules to abide by: keep quiet and stay out of trouble. Her mother landed a new job as a cook at an affluent Virginia estate and didn’t want anything to risk the opportunity, least of all her outspoken teenage daughter. What no one saw coming was Tess falling deeply in love with the boy next door, high-society Grant Alexander.
Over a few wondrous and heat-filled months, Tess and Grant’s love blooms so ferociously it feels utterly impossible that anything can keep them apart, until tragedy strikes.
Now, more than two decades after their epic teenage romance, Tess and Grant are both running for governor of Virginia, and secrets from that summer threaten to shatter their families, their political futures, and the memory of the first love that shaped their lives.
Audrey Ingram pens an interesting story of privilege verses those struggling to make a living and putting food on the table in The Summer We Ran.
\Grant and Tess shared a summer of romance, and its consequences left them wanting more. They both did the right thing and went their separate ways, or did they?
The story is told from either Tess’s or Grant’s perspective from both the summer of 1996 and the year 2021. Alternating between the two time periods, concentrating first on Tess’s views, then Grant’s, then Tess’s again. We get to know each character a little at a time —how they lived their lives, their families and dynamics, and ultimately how it shaped both them and their future, their circumstances,  and some of their dreams.
Unfortunately, Grant was a poor little rich boy who his parents ignored, sent to boarding school, and was constantly berated and belittled by his overbearing father. He couldn’t do anything right in his father’s eyes, and his dad always worried about appearances. His parents had an unhappy marriage, but they stayed together for the benefits it bestowed upon them.
Grant’s pompous dad was a monster and wouldn’t be crossed when he determines Grant’s fling with the poor gardening help has run its course. He doesn’t want to hear anything different and wants his son to make the right connections and mingle with the rich and powerful. He makes sure to get his way, but things don’t always happen the way he thought they did.
When Grant and Tess’s paths unexpectedly cross 25 years later, neither is ready for it, especially since they’re both running for governor of Virginia. Memories come alive, and not all are good ones. They tried to distance themselves from their past, especially since they both have spouses and in Grant’s case, he has two young sons.
We get to know their history a little at a time, and there were some revelations, along with darkness, tears, and even some hate mixed in with their summer love. The story had numerous twists and turns, along with surprises, unexpected secrets revealed, and even the loss of love.
Ultimately, there was closure with one of them winning the governor’s race, but some things remain unresolved in their relationship if you can call it that. Although they stay in contact after the election, the story ends with some unresolved issues but also the chance, if not for a future, at least a chance of friendship.
Drama-filled and depictions of different types of love, The Summer We Ran runs the gambit of emotions. Twists and turns kept me turning the pages to see what would happen next.
Audrey Ingram is the author of The River Runs South and The Group Trip. She is a graduate of Middlebury College and Georgetown University Law Center, and she practiced law in Washington, D.C., for fifteen years. When not writing, she can be found digging in her garden or hiking the Blue Ridge mountains. An Alabama native, Audrey currently lives in Virginia with her husband and three children.
