The Summer of Lost Letters: Chapters 10–14

by Hannah Reynolds
Needing to get away from her small town in western Massachusetts, seventeen-year-old Abigail Schoenberg decides to take a summer job in Nantucket to find out more about what her grandmother was like when she was young and in love with a mysterious man.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–9, Chapters 10–14, Chapters 15–20, Chapters 21–28
40 words 7 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. puritanical
    morally rigorous and strict
    “Why are you always so reluctant to talk about boys?”
    “Probably because you raised me in puritanical Massachusetts.”
  2. banal
    repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse
    “Weird is either the height of compliments or the most banal of insults. I shall accept it as the former.”
  3. truncated
    terminating abruptly by having an end or point cut off
    “Oh, I’m—” I made an awkward, truncated noise, and waved my hand vaguely.
  4. airily
    in a manner that is overly casual or lacking seriousness
    “Apology accepted,” I said airily.
  5. feign
    give a false appearance of
    He locked his hands behind his back and looked up at the sky, feigning innocence.
  6. implacable
    incapable of being appeased or pacified
    “Good night, Abigail,” he finally said, firm and implacable.
  7. liege
    a feudal lord entitled to allegiance and service
    I glanced over at him, at this boy who acted like he was some knight sworn to protect his liege lord.
  8. arbor
    a framework that supports climbing plants
    Nancy’s cottage lay outside the village proper, tucked high up and covered in roses. Noah parked and we walked under an arbor to knock on the gray slate door.
  9. mince
    make less severe or harsh
    She had a will of iron, Ruth. And there was a brightness about her, when we got older—when she talked, people listened. She didn’t mince words. People wanted to hear what she had to say.
  10. dote
    shower with love; show excessive affection for
    Mrs. Barbanel didn’t have any daughters, so I think she bonded with Ruth differently than she had with her sons. They had a special connection. She didn’t dote—she wasn’t given to large displays of emotion—but I remember Ruth telling me they learned to bake together.
  11. shoal
    a sandbank in a stretch of water that is visible at low tide
    A floundering ship ended up on our shoals, and some of our fishing vessels came across lifeboats filled with survivors from U-boat attacks.
  12. decorous
    characterized by propriety and dignity and good taste
    Nancy switched from mischievousness to decorous, from past to the present. “Your grandmother is a real gift to the island, Noah.”
  13. sentinel
    a person employed to keep watch for some anticipated event
    Noah headed between the two charred wooden planks standing sentinel at the maze’s beginning.
  14. staunch
    firm and dependable especially in loyalty
    Maybe more than most people: my parents were my prime example for how to be a good human. They were so staunch, so committed to each other and to me and Dave.
  15. facilitate
    make easier
    They’re usually an hour, though sometimes the patrons stay longer, and we provide snacks and facilitate the conversation.
  16. mar
    cause to become imperfect
    She studied me a little longer, then walked around the World War II table, her fingers trailing over the covers, a frown marring her perfect forehead.
  17. scry
    divine the future, especially by gazing into a crystal ball
    Every so often she’d pause, a diviner before her scrying pool.
  18. blatantly
    in a completely obvious manner
    Especially when I shouldn’t be blatantly staring at it?
  19. render
    cause to become
    No way was I flirting with him, when he’d be left smirking and unaffected while I’d be rendered a puddle of nerves.
  20. terse
    brief and to the point
    It was a pretty good distraction, too, worrying about someone else’s romantic dilemmas rather than my own. Like about how Noah’s texts confirming dinner for Saturday night were terser than I liked.
  21. decadent
    relating to indulgence in something pleasurable
    Though the evening retained the heat of the day, clouds had dialed back the worst of it, and now the warmth felt more like a decadent blanket.
  22. tentatively
    in a hesitant manner
    Though tight-lipped and tense, her eyes looked tentatively hopeful.
  23. eddy
    a miniature whirlpool or whirlwind
    A sea breeze lifted the humid air in little eddies.
  24. placid
    calm and free from disturbance
    Helen watched him, placid as a great lake and just as likely to be hiding an exceptionally dangerous current.
  25. moor
    open land with peaty soil covered with heather and moss
    In the upstairs hall—one I hadn’t been in, modern and high-ceilinged—we passed more of Edward Barbanel’s paintings, large ones, unsettling: the moors of Nantucket under the silver moon, the snowy beaches in weak winter light.
  26. balk
    refuse to proceed or comply
    Noah pushed open a door and I balked, tugging him to a stop—him over the threshold, me on the other side.
  27. devious
    characterized by insincerity or deceit
    “You’re awful at lying,” Noah murmured to me.
    “Wow,” Shira said. “Devious. And here I thought you were just another summer girl.”
  28. condescending
    characteristic of those who treat others with arrogance
    She shot him a condescending look. “You’re a boy. Boys don’t pay attention to anything.”
  29. tenacity
    persistent determination
    “I’m impressed by her tenacity.”
    “Probably because it surpasses even yours.” Noah met my gaze, his own filled with determination.
  30. stoic
    seeming unaffected by pleasure or pain; impassive
    His expression had locked down, as stoic as his father’s and as his grandfather’s had been.
  31. scant
    less than the correct or legal or full amount
    Do I give them the scant details I remember, pretending they’d stretched on as they might have, had the actual timeline not occurred?
  32. platitude
    a trite or obvious remark
    I thought of how often I wanted someone to push when I’d said I’m fine, how rarely I meant the platitude.
  33. fester
    gnaw into; make resentful or angry
    What was he doing, calling? Phones only rang for death and library bills. Or perhaps he, too, knew not to let silence fester.
  34. supplicant
    one praying humbly for something
    Usually in this kind of heat, I couldn’t understand how anyone could feel anything besides exhausted, or be anything other than a supplicant to the god of air-conditioning.
  35. excise
    remove by cutting
    Yet this morning, beneath the sweat and the heat, a terrible nervousness buzzed through me, a low-level anxiety I’d have excised with a knife if possible.
  36. unfathomable
    impossible to come to understand
    Noah held my gaze for half a second, his own still and unfathomable.
  37. innuendo
    an indirect and usually malicious implication
    Why was it so easy to accidentally make innuendos?
  38. recalcitrant
    stubbornly resistant to authority or control
    For one recalcitrant moment, I considered digging in my heels and refusing.
  39. contrite
    feeling or expressing pain or sorrow
    Instead, I sent Tyler a contrite smile.
  40. hackles
    a feeling of anger and animosity
    His tone was utterly inoffensive, and yet my hackles rose.
Created on Sat Mar 09 09:58:17 EST 2024 (updated Mon Mar 11 09:13:42 EDT 2024)

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