Let’s Get: Lost in the Summer of 69 (by Eliza Knight)

Women’s fiction

397 pages

Pub date: 9 June 2026

Four stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟

My thoughts:

I have read and enjoyed other books by this author, most especially The Mayfair Bookshop, a title which was about Nancy Mitford. Knight has set her fiction in many time periods; here she is at the very exciting end of the 1960s in the U.S. It was a time with movement away from the more conservative era that preceded it.

There is a lot about music in this story. Those familiar with the late 60s will find the names of many musicians that they recognize, making it fun to make a playlist.

Music is important in this story but it is also a novel about three generations of women with questions about how to best live one’s life.

The oldest character is Eleanor (Ellie). She is 69 in the summer of 69. Eleanor has recently received some life changing news. This spurs her on to wanting an adventure, and one that hearkens back to when she was a young and talented musician. So…Eleanor hops on a plane to a California music festival, the first of a number of festivals to be found in these pages. She tells no one where she is going.

Eleanor’s daughter, Leanne is in a marriage in which her husband seems to be moving further and further away from her. Leanne is in the “sandwich generation,” with concerns about both her mother and daughter. How will her life have changed by the end of this story?

Nora is a bright young woman who will be attending Yale in the first class to ever admit women. Her future looks as bright as she is. What will the summer bring to her? (For one thing, a road trip).

Follow these women over a summer in which memories are built that will last them all for a lifetime.

Note that this book is a bit long but those willing to spend the time will, I think, enjoy it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for this title. All opinions are my own.

Description:

from the publisher

Three generations of women, an unforgettable summer of music, and the epic cross-country road trip they’ll never forget.

Summer, 1969: Eleanor Bell doesn’t have anything to lose. According to the doctors, she might not remember how to sing or play guitar soon, so why not head west now? Why not join the music festivals sweeping the country and lose herself in the music again, in a swan song of her own? 

Except she forgets, maybe on purpose, to tell anyone where she’s going. When her daughter, Leanne, discovers her mother missing, she enlists the help of her own daughter, Nora, to help her find Eleanor. The last thing Nora wants to do before starting as one of Yale’s first female undergrads is hit the road. But then Nora hears something strange on the radio—her grandmother’s voice, singing. Nora and Leanne hop in their Chevy for a cross-country road trip, always one step behind Eleanor, who has been dubbed the Dame of Rock n’ Roll by none other than Johnny Carson. 

Full of nostalgia and awash with the warmth of summer, Lost in the Summer of ’69 is an epic celebration of savoring the encore-no matter what the next act may bring.