How Lucy Ashby Finds Herself Through Vulnerability, Delegation, and a Flower Farm Dream
Introduction: The Thematic Claim
Self-discovery in Carley Fortune’s This Summer Will Be Different is not a clean, linear journey. The novel argues that true growth requires confronting the impulse to run away, learning to trust others with your responsibilities, and allowing vulnerability to reshape your sense of self. Lucy Ashby’s arc — from a workaholic florist who micromanages her shop and hides her feelings, to a woman who delegates, pursues a flower farm dream, and opens herself to love — illustrates that self-discovery is a cyclical, often painful process of turning toward rather than away.
Part One: The Runaway — Lucy’s First Escape to Prince Edward Island
The story begins with Lucy fleeing her carefully controlled life. When her best friend Bridget misses their flight, Lucy travels alone to Prince Edward Island and shares an intense, anonymous night with Felix Clark. Only later does she learn he is Bridget’s brother — the one person she was forbidden to fall for. This secret affair is Lucy’s first act of rebellion against the rules she and Bridget created to protect their friendship. Yet the escape is also a symptom of avoidance. Lucy does not tell Bridget about Felix, just as she does not tell her parents about her struggling flower shop, In Bloom. The initial self-discovery here is accidental: in breaking one rule, Lucy discovers a capacity for intense connection that her orderly Toronto life had suppressed.
Yet the first summer ends with Lucy leaving PEI without resolving anything. She returns to her shop and redoubles her workaholic habits, using busyness to avoid the mess of her emotions. This pattern — running to an island, then retreating — repeats twice more, suggesting that self-discovery cannot happen solely through geographic relocation.
Part Two: The Micromanager — Struggling with Delegation and Trust
A year later, Lucy returns to PEI for Bridget’s wedding and is forced to confront the limits of her control. She arrives still micromanaging her shop from afar, refusing to let Farah, her assistant manager, take the lead. The beach scene at Thunder Cove (Chapter 7) is a turning point. Watching Bridget cry over the vanished Teacup Rock, Lucy realizes that permanence is an illusion. “Nothing is permanent. It was meant to go,” she tells Bridget, but she cannot apply the same lesson to her own life.
The Clark family sandcastle competition (Chapter 11) reveals another layer. Lucy, partnered with Felix, initially tries to control the design. When she nearly loses the drawbridge, Felix cups his hands over hers — a literal and symbolic gesture of shared work. “I’ve got you,” he says. But Lucy pulls back too fast, crumbling the castle. This moment mirrors her professional life: she cannot trust others to help, even when she is overwhelmed.
Later, at Zach’s party (Chapter 17), Bridget’s reaction to Joy — an ex-friend who “needed to find herself” — provides a negative example. Joy’s language of self-discovery became an excuse for abandoning relationships. Lucy sees that the phrase “I need to find myself” can be a selfish escape. This foreshadows her own near-mistake: when she later uses the same words to Felix, he recoils.
Part Three: The Destination — Choosing Growth Over Escape
The climactic fight in Chapter 34 (“Now, October”) crystallizes the theme. After Bridget’s wedding, Felix and Lucy have begun a relationship, but Lucy is terrified of being alone now that Bridget has moved to Australia. She proposes moving to PEI permanently, claiming she needs to “find herself.” Felix immediately shuts this down, saying, “I can’t be your escape route. … I don’t want to be a stop along your journey. I want to be the destination.”
This is the novel’s thesis: self-discovery cannot be outsourced to a place or a person. Felix forces Lucy to stop running. He tells her that while she does not yet know what she wants, she must figure that out without using him as a crutch. “You could break me so easily,” he admits, showing his own vulnerability. Lucy finally hears the truth: she has a history of turning away from problems, and moving to PEI would be no different.
In the months that follow (Chapter 37), Lucy begins to change from the inside. She allows Farah to take on more responsibility, acknowledging her micromanaging habits. “I need room to grow,” Farah says, and Lucy realizes she needs the same. She stops showing up on her days off and learns to trust her team. This professional growth is paralleled by personal growth: she calls Felix and they decide to take things slowly, with honesty instead of escape. By the end, Lucy is not only ready to pursue a flower farm (a dream she had buried) but also to ask Felix for a proper relationship when the time is right.
Symbols of Self-Discovery
Fortune uses several symbols to reinforce Lucy’s arc. The elusive sea-glass — which Lucy searches for but never finds throughout the novel — represents the treasure of self-knowledge she cannot grasp while looking outward. Only when she stops searching and starts living deliberately does the possibility of discovery become real.
Oyster shucking is Felix’s art: it requires patience, precision, and a willingness to pry open something protected. Lucy’s relationship with Felix forces her to be pried open herself. His cut hand in the prologue, which she bandages, begins their intimacy. Later, when she helps him prepare food (Chapter 11), she learns to follow his lead, not her own.
The flower farm represents Lucy’s deferred dream. She loves growing flowers but has kept her shop small out of fear. By the end, she is ready to expand, even if it means delegating more. This symbol ties back to her conversation with Aunt Stacy, who advises Lucy to live for herself, not for others.
Finally, the visitor card from Green Gables evokes Anne Shirley’s spirited imagination. Like Anne, Lucy must learn that a world of possibilities opens when she stops trying to control every detail and instead embraces the surprises of a planned detour.
Complexity and Contradiction
The novel does not present self-discovery as a simple success story. Lucy’s initial growth is reactive and messy. Her affair with Felix is rooted in secrecy, not courage. Her return to PEI the second summer is motivated by guilt and duty, not clarity. Even her eventual decision to stay in Toronto is partly forced by Felix’s refusal to let her escape. This complicates the idea that growth is fully chosen.
Moreover, the novel contrasts Lucy’s arc with Joy’s. Joy’s “I need to find myself” was genuine, but it hurt others. Lucy’s version could have done the same. By overtly rejecting that phrase at the crucial moment, the book suggests that self-discovery must be done with people, not at their expense. As Bridget says about Joy, “She broke both our hearts.”
Another layer of complexity lies in the friendship between Lucy and Bridget. Bridget’s own journey — moving to Australia, stopping the wedding, reconnecting with Joy — mirrors Lucy’s. Both women must learn that adult friendship requires flexibility and honesty. Bridget’s rule about not falling for Felix was rooted in fear of losing her friend; breaking that rule ultimately strengthens their bond when Lucy finally tells the truth.
Study Questions and Answers
1. How does Lucy’s relationship with Farah illustrate her growth in self-discovery?
At the start, Lucy micromanages every detail at In Bloom, refusing to take a vacation day. In Chapter 37, Farah confronts her, saying, “You’re a micromanager.” Lucy listens, apologizes, and begins delegating. This shift from control to trust mirrors her emotional growth: she must learn to rely on others before she can rely on herself.
2. Why does Felix refuse to let Lucy move to PEI when she says she needs to “find herself”?
Felix was once engaged to Joy, who used the same phrase to end their relationship. He knows that “finding yourself” can become an escape from hard work. He tells Lucy, “I can’t be your escape route” and wants her to be sure about their relationship before committing. This forces Lucy to confront her own avoidance patterns.
3. What does the sea-glass symbolize in Lucy’s self-discovery journey?
Lucy searches for sea-glass at every beach but never finds it. The elusive glass represents the self-knowledge she is chasing externally. Only when she stops running and starts living deliberately — delegating at work, being honest with Bridget, and slowing down with Felix — does she become open to finding the treasure within.
4. How does the setting of Prince Edward Island contribute to the theme of growth?
PEI acts as a catalyst for change. Its beaches, red cliffs, and the impermanent Teacup Rock remind Lucy that nothing is fixed. The island’s slow pace contrasts with her Toronto hustle, forcing her to confront her discomfort with stillness. However, the novel critiques the idea that a place alone can fix you: Lucy must choose to grow regardless of location.
5. Compare Lucy’s arc with Joy’s. What does the novel suggest about “finding yourself”?
Joy genuinely needed to discover her identity outside of Felix, but her process hurt Bridget and Felix. Lucy nearly repeats Joy’s mistake by using the same language. The novel suggests that self-discovery is valid, but it must be done thoughtfully — not by discarding relationships, but by growing within them. Lucy’s eventual honesty with Bridget and her willingness to wait for Felix show a healthier version of the same journey.