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Summary
Summary
Heather Barbieri follows her acclaimed Gaelic-tinged drama The Lace Makers of Glenmara with the resonant tale of a woman who, in the wake of scandal, flees to a remote Maine island to reconnect with her past--and to come to terms with the childhood tragedy that has haunted her for a lifetime.
Set on the rugged New England coast, Barbieri's The Cottage at Glass Beach strikes the perfect balance between high lit and mainstream women's fiction, infusing a potent and unforgettable love story with unforgettable characters that will remain with you long after the final chapter. Richly evocative, Barbieri's narrative of intimacy, struggle, and redemption will call out to readers of Joanne Harris, Alice Hoffman, and other modern masters of drama.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In the enchanting world of Maine's Burke's Island, fanciful stories-of captured selkies becoming dutiful wives and tears cried in the sea beckoning lovers to shore-are gracefully woven into modern reality. Nora Cunningham, 40, was born on the island, but after her mother disappeared when she was five, Nora was whisked away to Boston by her father. Decades later, after Nora's husband's scandalous affair, her Aunt Maire invites Nora and her young daughters, Annie and Ella, back to the cottage on Glass Beach to find solace. Welcoming the slow pace of the island, Nora must learn to navigate her new place in life and rediscover the magic of the present while filling in the pieces of her past. At times plodding and mundane, Barbieri's newest (after The Lace Makers of Glenmara) is saved by the precociously wise Annie, the tenacious and endearing Aunt Maire, and the budding romance between Nora and a mysterious shipwrecked sailor. Agent: Emma Sweeney, Emma Sweeney Agency. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Troubled wife Nora and her children return to the island of Nora's birth, off the Maine coast, where answers to old mysteries and resolutions to newer problems will inevitably be found. Marine enigmas are often invoked as mood-enhancers in the third novel from Barbieri (The Lace Makers of Glenmara, 2009, etc.). Summoned by her Aunt Maire, Nora, with daughters Ella and Annie, returns to Burke's Island, where her flirty, charismatic mother Maeve disappeared when Nora was 5. Nora needs a break from her life in Boston, where her marriage is the subject of scandal after her husband Malcolm, the youngest attorney general-elect in Massachusetts state history, has been discovered having an affair. On the island, Nora is assailed by half-forgotten childhood memories, while odd figures stroll into the picture: Owen, shipwrecked on the beach, a man with no memories who keeps watch over Nora; Ronan, a child who befriends Annie and whose presence is a secret. This wispy, fairy-tale aspect is underscored by dreams, selkies, mists, changelings and sea gypsies as the story drifts towards a finale that answers one large mystery while leaving several loose ends dangling. A sweetly simple, not exactly unpredictable story with the bone structure of a romance; stronger on atmosphere and charm than events.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Nora Cunningham brings her daughters to Burke's Island in New England to escape the scandal surrounding her politician husband's affair. Her aunt Maire is thrilled, but not all of the residents are so welcoming. The silence surrounding the long-ago disappearance of Maeve, Nora's mother, not to mention the sudden appearance of a shipwrecked man with no memory, is a dark current propelling the story forward. Ella, Nora's 12-year-old, misses her father fiercely, but 7-year-old Annie is drawn to the sea and, especially, a strange young boy named Ronan. The writing elevates this story above the usual wronged-mother-finds-herself story, and the harsh and, in the right hands, productive island is a character in itself. Readers who require strict realism may be turned off by the touch of the paranormal, but Barbieri does such a wonderful job setting up the beauty and mystery of the island and its rich Gaelic roots that it is not a stretch to ask the reader to imagine that the place is also magical. A wonderful, subtle, transporting story. For readers who enjoyed Sarah Addison Allen's Garden Spells (2007) and Brunonia Barry's The Lace Reader (2008).--Maguire, Susan Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
When Nora Cunningham discovers that her attorney general husband has been having an affair, she takes her two daughters to Burke Island, off the coast of Maine, for the summer. Nora hasn't been back to the island since her mother disappeared there many years before. Tradition says that Burke Island is a magical place. Can that magic help Nora heal her broken heart, understand what happened to her mother, and chart a new life for herself? VERDICT Barbieri's (The Lace Makers of Glenmara; Snow in July) mix of fairy tale and family drama in a picturesque seaside resort makes her third novel a terrific beach read. (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
