Author: Colleen French

Colleen French writes contemporary women’s fiction after a long publishing career that has included work under other names. She is the daughter of historical-romance writer Judith E. French, a family connection that placed storytelling and the professional realities of authorship close together. Kensington published The Summer Daughter in 2022. The novel follows Natalie Sullivan in Albany Beach, Delaware, as an unexpected family disclosure forces her to reconsider her marriage to Conor and the history shared by their daughters, McKenzie and Bella. French organizes the story around the consequences of decisions made years earlier, allowing a coastal summer setting to contrast with the instability inside the household. The Summer Daughter is linked by place and emotional focus to The Summer I Found Myself, though each centres a different woman. French’s treatment of family secrecy emphasizes how several people can understand the same past differently. Rather than isolating Natalie’s crisis, the novel follows its effects across spouses, siblings, and generations, making the work a domestic drama about trust, parenthood, and chosen responsibility.