Prime Video’s hit series The Summer I Turned Pretty (TSITP) – a nostalgic revisit to peak adolescence and seaside romance unfolding to a Taylor Swift-packed soundtrack – is nearing the end of its second season. It has all the essential ingredients of a swoon-worthy coming-of-age story: a love triangle, jealousy, heartbreak, friendship, night swims, and a debutante ball. As the fictional New England town of Cousins Beach shimmers on screen, I’ve fallen in love with the Fisher family’s sprawling waterfront holiday home – with its hydrangea-heavy garden and nautical interior palette of creams, navies, and seafoams.
The show’s setting has me reminiscing about a long weekend I once spent on the charming island of Martha’s Vineyard, just off the coast of Cape Cod in Massachusetts. The summer colony’s preppy lifestyle is punctuated by faded red chinos, liberal lobster roll consumption, and sunny days spent under sail. And like in Jenny Han’s book-turned-TV-series, the region’s stately clapboard houses are a paradox of sorts – combining the novelty of being on holiday with the familiarity and comfort of home.
