Author: Heather Barbieri
ISBN:978-0062107961
Publisher: Harper Collins
Source: TLC Book Tours
Rating: Highly Recommended
About the Book:
Married to the youngest attorney general in Massachusetts state history, Nora Cunningham is a picture-perfect political wife and a doting mother. But her carefully constructed life falls to pieces when she, along with the rest of the world, learns of the infidelity of her husband, Malcolm.
Humiliated and hounded by the press, Nora packs up her daughters—Annie, seven; and Ella, twelve—and takes refuge on Burke's Island, a craggy spit of land off the coast of Maine. Settled by Irish immigrants, the island is a place where superstition and magic are carried on the ocean winds, and wishes and dreams wash ashore with the changing tides.
Nora spent her first five years on the island but has not been back to the remote community for decades—not since that long ago summer when her mother disappeared at sea. One night while sitting alone on Glass Beach below the cottage where she spent her childhood, Nora succumbs to grief, her tears flowing into the ocean. Days later she finds an enigmatic fisherman named Owen Kavanagh shipwrecked on the rocks nearby. Is he, as her aunt's friend Polly suggests, a selkie—a mythical being of island legend—summoned by her heartbreak, or simply someone who, like Nora, is trying to find his way in the wake of his own personal struggles?
Just as she begins to regain her balance, her daughters embark on a reckless odyssey of their own—a journey that will force Nora to find the courage to chart her own course and finally face the truth about her marriage, her mother, and her long-buried past.
My Thoughts:
I love books with deep secrets, the beach, emotional struggles and discovery of self. This book has it all. I love the story line in this novel. Nora's mom disappearing at sea was enticing. Nora, who never really dealt with her grief after the incident, finds herself back at the cottage she spent her childhood summers in. This time she has a whole new grief to overcome. The story revolves around Nora and the mythical legends of the island. The characters are deeply rooted in their surroundings and are an intriguing set. The story embraces the journey to self discovery, a path that is deeply emotional, sometimes heartbreaking and promises fulfillment. Nora discovers her courage, her lineage and herself in this summer title.
About the Author:
The author of two previous novels, The Lace Makers of Glenmara, and Snow in July, Heather Barbieri has won international prizes for her short fiction. She lives in Seattle with her family.
Highly Recommended
I'm glad it had everything you love in a book. Thanks for being on the tour!
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