ABOUT THE BOOK
A literary novel set on the coast of Maine during the 1960s, tracing the life of a family and its matriarch as they negotiate sharing a home.
Margreete’s Harbor begins with a fire: a fiercely-independent, thrice-widowed woman living on her own in a rambling house near the Maine coast forgets a hot pan on the stovetop, and nearly burns her place down.
When Margreete Bright calls her daughter Liddie to confess, Liddie realizes that her mother can no longer live alone. She, her husband Harry, and their children Eva and Bernie move from a settled life in Michigan across the country to Margreete’s isolated home, and begin a new life.
Margreete’s Harbor tells the story of ten years in the history of a family: a novel of small moments, intimate betrayals, arrivals and disappearances that coincide with America during the late 1950s through the turbulent 1960s. Liddie, a professional cellist, struggles to find space for her music in a marriage that increasingly confines her; Harry’s critical approach to the growing war in Vietnam endangers his new position as a high school history teacher; Bernie and Eva begin to find their own identities as young adults; and Margreete slowly descends into a private world of memories, even as she comes to find a larger purpose in them.
MY REVIEW
I really enjoyed the time period and the family that was placed in it. This era
I think for me that this was a hard book for me to read. Why you ask?
I feel that dementia is a hard thing to address. While I might not have any experience in that area I can't imagine what it must be like for the families that do. My heart went out to Margareet and her family.
There were places in the book that I wanted to cry because it was so very sad. In many cases in this story I even snickered at some of the scenes.
I think the author has done an excellent job on this subject and has managed to bring it to life so us readers can get a glimpse of how families deal with this issue.
The characters in this beautiful story were well rounded out and I enjoyed in getting to know each character. Margareet especially. I thought she was a jem.
This book deserves 5 stars and more! I am looking forward to more from this author.
My thanks to Netgalley for a beautiful story. One that I highly recommend. This is one of a few books that I've read that wouldn't let me put it down until I was finished. It also left me thinking about the characters especially Margareet long after the story was finished.
I was NOT required to write a positive review and all opinions are my own.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ELEANOR MORSE is the author of White Dog Fell from the Sky and An Unexpected Forest, which won the Independent Publisher’s Gold Medalist Award for Best Regional Fiction in the Northeast United States, and was selected as the Winner of the Best Published Fiction by the Maine writers and Publishers Alliance. Morse has taught in adult education programs, in prisons, and in university systems, both in Maine and in southern Africa. She lives on Peaks Island, Maine.
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