September 21, 1938 was a day that began much like any other day at the ragtag end of the summer season on the eastern end of Long Island ldash; better known as The Hamptons. The storm came out of nowhere with no warning, destroying houses, farms, shops, laying flat giant elms and, by the time it was over, had killed nearly 800 people on Long Island and in New England.
But A DAY LIKE ANY OTHER is not just a disaster novel. The storm is a framing device for an historical tableau vivant of the East End. The Hamptons of that time was home to fishermen, farmers, shopkeepers, kids, and garden club women ndash; an Our Town of the late Depression era. But in the summer, like today, its population swelled with social icons, arrivistes, and excessive urban wealth.
Henderson brings to life that Hamptons and that era through the stories and voices of locals, artists and the summer colony. She tells us what a perfect storm can do to a beautiful landscape and its people.
