When Felicity Jefferies' husband of twenty-eight years dies, she is released, at last, from a loveless marriage and a past she would like to forget. But her adult children's questions threaten to reveal long-kept family secrets Felicity is not ready to share. So, Felicity heads north seeking solace and tranquility at her family cottage at Ril Lake.
Ben Pierce is a man wracked with guilt over spending a decade away from his daughter. His work has taken him to worn-torn countries and the sites of natural disasters as his company rebuilds towns and villages. Now he has come home and wants to rekindle the relationship he lost with his daughter, But she wants nothing to do with the father she thinks abandoned her all those years ago.
When Felicity meets Ben, her new neighbour at the cottage, they become friends, bound by their mutual need to come to terms with the past. Together they unpack the baggage of their lives and their friendship deepens into something more. But is it too soon for Felicity? What will her children think?
Felicity's conflicting emotions about her children's reactions to her new relationship with Ben, take a back seat to family secrets and the tangled web of deceit Felicity has been a part of for years.
When all is revealed, what will her children think of her and where will it leave Ben and Felicity?
Set in the beautiful Muskoka region of Ontario, Canada, One Summer at Ril Lake is the first in the Muskoka Cottage Novel Series.