Hannah McKinnon Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Hannah McKinnon is a literary fiction, general fiction and young adult fiction author from Fairfield County, Connecticut. She grew up in rural Connecticut where she spent her childhood drawing and writing about animals.

Her father was an English teacher who loved literature and storytelling and most evenings she would fall asleep listening to him typing on his keyboard. When she was in the third grade, she wrote “Rodents on the Range,” her debut short story and was hooked into storytelling from then on.
McKinnon went to Connecticut College from where she graduated with a degree in elementary education and English. She would later earn her master’s degree from the South Australian Flinders University, where she studied education.
After a decade teaching elementary school students, she decided to write her own work and started writing whenever her daughter was napping.

McKinnon knew that she was destined to become an author when she was in kindergarten. She still remembers making the first book cover out of bright colored wallpaper for a tale she had written about a tortoise.

When she was in the third grade, she read her story at a young authors conference and was rewarded with pearls of laughter. That the other children found her work hilarious only made her more convinced that she wanted to become an author.

Hannah McKinnon took writing courses in college but found herself writing less as she got older. She would major in education and literature and went on to become a teacher. It was while she was reading with her fourth grade students that she saw one of the boys crying over what had happened that she had her lightbulb moment.

At that moment, seeing a child crying over “Because of Winn Dixie” she remembered the profound emotions she had when she read literature as a child. She could no longer put it off and began penning her first children’s fiction work.

Hannah McKinnon published Franny Parker, her debut novel in 2009 and has never looked back since. She still loves reading children’s literature just like she did when she was a fourth grade teacher.

Apart from children’s fiction, she also reads women’s fiction and contemporary fiction. The latter is her favorite since she finds the plots and characters so relatable. She can often be found reading the works from the likes of Jodi Picoult, Alice Hoffman, Anita Shreve, and Elizabeth Berg.

Following the publishing of her first two children’s fiction novels, she thought she could try her hand in adult fiction and this is how she came to write “The Lake Season.”

“Mystic Summer” by Hannah McKinnon is a lyrical warm hearted novel that introduces Maggie Griffin. Ever since she graduated from college, Maggie has worked hard and now lives what many would consider a picture perfect life in Boston.

She lives alongside a loving aunt and devoted sister in a small suburb of Boston where she is an elementary school teacher. Her best friend is about to wed in a few weeks and with her own relationship blooming she could not have had a better summer.

But then she finds her career in jeopardy and it seems like her life will begin unraveling. Troubled she heads back to Mystic, Connecticut her hometown where she expects to find comfort in familiarity and family.

Interestingly, she bumps into a young man named Cameron Wilder who has just come back home just like her. Wilder’s life took an even worse turn that Maggie’s tribulations in the city seem like a walk in the park.

When Cameron’s tragedy gets even worse Maggie has to make some difficult decisions as she struggles to stay true to who she has become.
Set against the beautiful background of a New England summer where present and past collide, this is a beautiful story about moving forward, looking back and the beauty that results from the intervention of fate.

Hannah McKinnon’s novel “The Summer House” opens to Flossy Merril summoning her children home to celebrate the eightieth birthday of the family patriarch. It is not long before long kept secrets and cherished memories come to light in this lyrical and charming novel.
Somewhat begrudgingly, Flossy Merrill manages to convince her children to leave their dysfunctional lives and spend a few weeks in the summer at their beach house on Rhode Island.
The youngest is clementine who has caused the most worry to her mother following a very rough year for the mother of two. But she is also alarmed by Sam and his partner Evan whose search for a child to adopt has been heartwrenching to say the least.
The only person Merrill does not worry about is Paige who is her usual composed and punctual self with well adapted children. But what the family is unaware of is that she has some significant challenges too.
Still, with the family congregated on their vacation home, the matriarch is determined to get everyone back on course. But Flossy has one more unexpected shock for the gathered Merrill family.

“The Lake Season” by Hannah McKinnon is set several weeks before the idyllic wedding that is supposed to be the talk of New England. The refreshing and enticing story comes with sweet romance, wry wit and the usual long kept family secrets.

Iris Standish has always prided herself for being the responsible one that always made the right choices. She had studied hard and finally settled down though she had to give up many passions to cultivate her responsible personality.

On the other hand is Leah, her sister who has always been irresponsible. She wanted to find herself and in doing so dropped out of college, switched jobs and lovers all the time and hiked through Yellowstone. She always depended on her responsible sister to get her out of tough situations which she always did.
But Iris’s life has recently been falling apart and when Leah desperately calls out for help, Iris finds herself in the middle of preparations for Leah’s wedding to a stranger. Nonetheless, despite the rush of rehearsal dinners, floral arrangements and dress fittings Iris is slowly learning that her needs come first.
Spending her evenings relaxing by taking a swim her high school crush comes beckoning with the promise of new beginnings.