While these are the main threads of the story, like summer days, there are other things going on as well. Legend has it that it's haunted, but someone is definitely there at night. The third mystery is who is in the lighthouse on Keeper's Island across the water from August Isle. They know Clare is Sammy's mother, Beth is Miranda's mother, but who is Ben and why have they never heard of him? There, carved into the sidewalk cement are three names - Clare, Beth, Ben. They discover the second mystery while walking down the street. Taylor unpack his many books, acquired on a sailing trip around the world and writing down the stories he collected from different people and places. As punishment for breaking and entering, the three friends have to spend afternoons helping Mr. Which she does, but gets caught by an elderly man who is now living there. First, the three discover an old abandoned house and Miranda is dared to go in. And that's where she meets Caleb, who at first makes fun of Miranda for her fear, but soon she, Sammy and Caleb are fast friends. Aunt Clare has signed them up for sailing lessons every morning, not knowing that Miranda is deathly afraid of water. Miranda had met Aunt Clare and her daughter Sammy four years ago, and the two girls quickly bond again once Miranda arrives on August Isle. And then maybe she can figure out why her mother suddenly began to distance herself from Miranda a few years ago. Miranda has always wondered why her mother threw away the postcards Aunt Clare periodically sent and now that she will be on August Isle, she is determined to find out.

When her mom, a freelance photographer, gets a job in Argentina, and her dad has a big law case to prepare for, it is decided that Miranda, 12, would be sent to stay with her mother's old friend, Aunt Clare on August Isle, where her mother had spent her summers growing up.

August Isle by Ali Standish