Status
Available
Genres
Publication
Harper (2012), Edition: Reprint, 403 pages
Description
Learning of the infidelity of her husband, Nora Cunningham 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 where her mother disappeared at sea long ago. Just as Nora begins to regain her balance, her daughters embark on a reckless odyssey of their own--forcing Nora to finally face the truth about her marriage, her mother, and her long-buried past.
User reviews
LibraryThing member mckait
Oh the women of the McGann family! Strong minded and strong willed.
Ella, one of the youngest not the least by any means. Nora, mother of two daughters
Ella and Annie, was the daughter of Maeve. Maeve who had vanished one day when Nora
was only a small child of five. She had to memory of what had
They lived on an island, Maeve and her family. It was the island where she had
grown up along with her sister Maire. Their father was a fisherman, and the girls,
the whole family seemed to have the sea running through their veins. Live lived next
to it and they swam in it, and depended on it to sustain their lives.
After Nora's mother disappeared, her father could not remain there with the
memories and the doubts, so he took his daughter away. They went to the mainland
and made anew life. He let nothing of the old life touch his daughter. Even when
Maire tried, for years, to reach out to the child, he put a stop to it.
Years passed and Nora married and had two daughters of her own. As it can happen,
the path she chose had many bumps and turns and when her husband was unfaithful, it
was too much for Nora to take in. But Maire had never given up and a letter arrived.
The timing could not have been better. All of the pain and loss that Nara was feeling
in her life seemed too much to bear. A trip to her childhood home seemed to be what she
needed. A place to meet up with long forgotten family, clear her head and decide what
would come next.
History has a way of affecting the present, especially family history. What would
the island hold? Would the secrets of her past be revealed? Would Nora find the peace
she so desperately sought?
Recommended for a nice comfortable read, for the beach or a chilly afternoon.
Ella, one of the youngest not the least by any means. Nora, mother of two daughters
Ella and Annie, was the daughter of Maeve. Maeve who had vanished one day when Nora
was only a small child of five. She had to memory of what had
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happened that day.They lived on an island, Maeve and her family. It was the island where she had
grown up along with her sister Maire. Their father was a fisherman, and the girls,
the whole family seemed to have the sea running through their veins. Live lived next
to it and they swam in it, and depended on it to sustain their lives.
After Nora's mother disappeared, her father could not remain there with the
memories and the doubts, so he took his daughter away. They went to the mainland
and made anew life. He let nothing of the old life touch his daughter. Even when
Maire tried, for years, to reach out to the child, he put a stop to it.
Years passed and Nora married and had two daughters of her own. As it can happen,
the path she chose had many bumps and turns and when her husband was unfaithful, it
was too much for Nora to take in. But Maire had never given up and a letter arrived.
The timing could not have been better. All of the pain and loss that Nara was feeling
in her life seemed too much to bear. A trip to her childhood home seemed to be what she
needed. A place to meet up with long forgotten family, clear her head and decide what
would come next.
History has a way of affecting the present, especially family history. What would
the island hold? Would the secrets of her past be revealed? Would Nora find the peace
she so desperately sought?
Recommended for a nice comfortable read, for the beach or a chilly afternoon.
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LibraryThing member mchwest
Book had an awesome beginning but went , actually didn't go far enough, nowhere until the end and then left me hanging with too many unanswered questions and too cutesy an ending.
LibraryThing member phyllis.shepherd
Quick beach read. The story line was interesting enough, but the child characters, ages 7 and 12, were much too wise and perceptive, and their vocabulary too adult. The magical realism was clumsy.
LibraryThing member ForeignCircus
When Nora needed a place to escape the spotlight shining on her husband's infidelity, she retreated with her daughters to the island where she was born, the island she and her father left when she was just five years old after her mother disappeared. There Nora finds an aunt who loves her, a
This was a book that once I started, I couldn't put down. The writing style is wonderful, as is the way the author weaves in old fairy stories with ease. Maire and Nora are great characters, and the Annie and Ella are precocious and intelligent children trying to deal with a crumbling family and a new-found love of the sea. I would have given it five stars if more of the questions about Maeve's disappearance has been answered- at the end I still had too many questions about that to be fully satisfied with the narrative. That said, this was a truly enjoyable read; I will certainly pick up other books by the author.
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cottage that was once a home, and the still unanswered questions about her mother's disappearance. Woven through the story is Irish mythology and a deep and abiding love of the sea.This was a book that once I started, I couldn't put down. The writing style is wonderful, as is the way the author weaves in old fairy stories with ease. Maire and Nora are great characters, and the Annie and Ella are precocious and intelligent children trying to deal with a crumbling family and a new-found love of the sea. I would have given it five stars if more of the questions about Maeve's disappearance has been answered- at the end I still had too many questions about that to be fully satisfied with the narrative. That said, this was a truly enjoyable read; I will certainly pick up other books by the author.
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LibraryThing member lahochstetler
Nora Keane has a troubled past and a troubled present. Her mother disappeared when Nora was five, and her marriage has been rocked by an affair. To get away from the scandal of her husband's affair, Nora packs up her two daughters and retreats to the small Maine Island where she was born. At the
The island is deeply steeped in Celtic mythology, and residents believe in the magical qualities of the sea. They believe that the sea brings creatures like selkies to aid mortals, and certainly some of the characters on the island have other-worldly qualities. This book is hardly fantasy, but it deals with how mythology functions in people's lives. These beliefs are particularly salient on a small island reliant on a tempestuous ocean for its safety and its livelihood.
Though Nora has clearly suffered, she is not always an especially likable character. She doesn't seem to take her older daughter's feelings about her home and father very seriously. I also found the resolution of the final series of events to be entirely unbelievable. In sum, not a bad book, and definitely well-suited to summer reading.
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island Nora tries to sort out her marriage and find out what, exactly, happened to her mother. The island is deeply steeped in Celtic mythology, and residents believe in the magical qualities of the sea. They believe that the sea brings creatures like selkies to aid mortals, and certainly some of the characters on the island have other-worldly qualities. This book is hardly fantasy, but it deals with how mythology functions in people's lives. These beliefs are particularly salient on a small island reliant on a tempestuous ocean for its safety and its livelihood.
Though Nora has clearly suffered, she is not always an especially likable character. She doesn't seem to take her older daughter's feelings about her home and father very seriously. I also found the resolution of the final series of events to be entirely unbelievable. In sum, not a bad book, and definitely well-suited to summer reading.
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LibraryThing member amanderson
Very coastal Maine. About a woman who retreats to her family's cottage with her daughters after her philandering charming politician husband puts them in the media's eye. She learns some secrets about her family, bonds with an aunt, and possibly gets romantic with marine life. Not quite sure. The
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Celtic supernatural element was rather mystically vague and the ending felt unfinished. By the author of The Lacemakers of Glenmara. For those who like a little Celtic supernatural with their beach read. Show Less
LibraryThing member bookworm_naida
The Cottage at Glass Beach is a beautifully written novel that centers around Nora Cunningham and her two daughters as they leave their Massachusetts home and take a summer trip to Burke’s Island, where Nora grew up. They stay at a cottage at Glass Beach. This is the cottage where Nora grew up,
Nora's husband's infidelity is what prompted the summer getaway. She is at a crossroads in her life and having mixed emotions as she both hates her husband for what he has done and yet cannot completely break free from him. While at Glass Beach Nora reconnects with her estranged Aunt Maire.
I enjoyed The Cottage at Glass Beach, I like the mystery woven into the storyline. Aside from the question of what happened to Nora's mother, there's a mysterious stranger who appears on the beach one stormy night with little recollection of how he got there. He is a fisherman named Owen Kavanagh and he soon becomes a part of these peoples daily lives on the beach.
Irish fairy tales are a part of the story as Nora reads these myths to her daughters. Nora's youngest daughter Annie finds a friend of the beach as well, a young boy her age who makes he promise not to tell anyone about him. The mysterious events on the island continue as Nora's daughters meet an older man named Reilly, who is a native of the island and was there the day Nora's mother disappeared. Nora discovers hidden truths about her past and about her mother. There are plenty of secrets just under the surface, waiting to be revealed.
While I found myself drawn in by the dreamlike quality of the prose, I felt more of an outsider looking in. I didn't fully connect with any of these characters. I felt like there was too much bouncing back and forth from character to character and I was never fully drawn in. Owen washes up on the beach and when he and Nora begin to have a heated conversation, I felt like he was still this stranger and I wondered why she would even be having such an emotional connection to him. I would have liked a bit more character development on the part of Owen.
This is a novel about finding oneself, about facing the past in order to move on. I wondered what would become of Nora and her girls and the new people who had come into their lives. The ending of the story surprised me.
As I said, the writing captivated me and I could easily envision the sights and sounds of Burke’s Island. I loved the beach side setting and the way the ocean and the mysteries it contains were woven into the plot. I think the author was inspired by one of my favorite novels, Kate Chopin's The Awakening.
"She understood that now. That this was part of a journey begun years ago, left incomplete, the site of her abandonment, of beginnings and ends. The island had been waiting for her. Everything circles back on itself in the end, she thought. Everything is connected. The geography of the land, and of the soul."
p. 301, The Cottage at Glass Beach
disclaimer:
This review is my honest opinion. I did not receive any type of compensation for reading and reviewing this book. While I receive free books from publishers and authors, such as this one, I am under no obligation to write a positive review.
I received a free review copy of The Cottage at Glass Beach as part of a virtual book tour in exchange for an honest review.
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and the same beach where her mother mysteriously disappeared when she was just a child.Nora's husband's infidelity is what prompted the summer getaway. She is at a crossroads in her life and having mixed emotions as she both hates her husband for what he has done and yet cannot completely break free from him. While at Glass Beach Nora reconnects with her estranged Aunt Maire.
I enjoyed The Cottage at Glass Beach, I like the mystery woven into the storyline. Aside from the question of what happened to Nora's mother, there's a mysterious stranger who appears on the beach one stormy night with little recollection of how he got there. He is a fisherman named Owen Kavanagh and he soon becomes a part of these peoples daily lives on the beach.
Irish fairy tales are a part of the story as Nora reads these myths to her daughters. Nora's youngest daughter Annie finds a friend of the beach as well, a young boy her age who makes he promise not to tell anyone about him. The mysterious events on the island continue as Nora's daughters meet an older man named Reilly, who is a native of the island and was there the day Nora's mother disappeared. Nora discovers hidden truths about her past and about her mother. There are plenty of secrets just under the surface, waiting to be revealed.
While I found myself drawn in by the dreamlike quality of the prose, I felt more of an outsider looking in. I didn't fully connect with any of these characters. I felt like there was too much bouncing back and forth from character to character and I was never fully drawn in. Owen washes up on the beach and when he and Nora begin to have a heated conversation, I felt like he was still this stranger and I wondered why she would even be having such an emotional connection to him. I would have liked a bit more character development on the part of Owen.
This is a novel about finding oneself, about facing the past in order to move on. I wondered what would become of Nora and her girls and the new people who had come into their lives. The ending of the story surprised me.
As I said, the writing captivated me and I could easily envision the sights and sounds of Burke’s Island. I loved the beach side setting and the way the ocean and the mysteries it contains were woven into the plot. I think the author was inspired by one of my favorite novels, Kate Chopin's The Awakening.
"She understood that now. That this was part of a journey begun years ago, left incomplete, the site of her abandonment, of beginnings and ends. The island had been waiting for her. Everything circles back on itself in the end, she thought. Everything is connected. The geography of the land, and of the soul."
p. 301, The Cottage at Glass Beach
disclaimer:
This review is my honest opinion. I did not receive any type of compensation for reading and reviewing this book. While I receive free books from publishers and authors, such as this one, I am under no obligation to write a positive review.
I received a free review copy of The Cottage at Glass Beach as part of a virtual book tour in exchange for an honest review.
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Language
Original publication date
2012