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Fiction. Literature. HTML: New York Times bestselling author Jenny Colgan returns to the setting of her beloved Little Beach Street Bakery series for a timely and heartfelt novel set in a Cornish seaside village. Marisa Rossi can't understand why everyone else is getting on with their lives as she still struggles to get over the death of her beloved grandfather, back home in Italy. Everyone loses grandparents, right? Why is she taking it so badly? Retreating further and further from normal life, she moves to the end of the earth�??the remote tidal island of Mount Polbearne, at the foot of Cornwall, hoping for peace and solitude, whilst carrying on her job as a registrar, dealing with births, weddings, and deaths, even as she feels life is passing her by. Unfortunately�??or fortunately?�??the solitude she craves proves elusive. Between her noisy Russian piano-teaching neighbor, the bustle and community spirit of the tiny village struggling back to life after the quarantine, and the pressing need to help save the local bakery, can Marisa find her joy again at the end of the wo… (more)
User reviews
Colgan has a number of series on the go - Sunrise by the Sea is the fourth in the 'Little Beach Street Bakery series. This latest
Don't you love the cover shot of all those colorful seaside houses? I think (no, I know!) I could very easily live there. The scenery is lovely, but it's those who live there that make this series so heartwarming.
Polly (the owner of the bakery) is of course there, along with her husband Huckle and their twins Daisy and Avery. The twins have grown and their dialogue is priceless. Another member of their household is Neil the puffin - a reader favorite! It's always lovely to catch up with returning characters - I feel like I'm catching up with old friends.
But, this book belongs to Marissa. Her beloved grandfather has died and she doesn't seem to be able to move on with her life, retreating more and more into herself and away from the world. Through a set of circumstances she ends up in Mount Polbearne in a wee rented house. It's quiet and peaceful - until a new tenant moves in next door.
Colgan has done a great job depicting Marissa's illness, it's written with care and is believable. I'm sure we've all felt like Marissa at some point in time. I loved Marissa's online Skype relationship with her grandmother in Italy. (And I missed mine all the more) And it wouldn't be a Jenny Colgan book without a romance (or two). That new neighbor? Interesting. Loud. Annoying. The will they, won't they, yes, no, maybe so, romantic plotlines are always great fun. And the descriptions of food? Mouth watering!
Mount Polbearne is that place you'd want to live - and the better part of that would be down to the residents. They're caring, quirky and community driven. Barring moving to Mount Polbearne (it is indeed fictional), I'm quite happy to visit in the pages of Jenny Colgan's imagination.
Another heartwarming, addictive, escapist, just lovely read from Jenny Colgan. I loved it.
Without spoiling the author’s attempt to avoid spoilers, I’ll just say this is a
This is a book that manages to be neither perky nor heavy; respect is given to Marisa’s struggles without drowning the reader in it. It’s light without being fluffy. There’s obviously a back story with the secondary characters; I’m assuming this is part of a series that takes place on this island, but it never interfered, or left me feeling as though I missed something. I’m guessing Sunrise by the Sea is marketed as a romance, but I’d argue against it. There’s a romantic connection at then end but the rest of the book is about Marisa’s recovery with occasional side-forays into the financial struggles of Polly and Huckle (whom I’m assuming starred in a previous book).
An enjoyable read – not quite what I was looking for, but it held my attention nonetheless.
However, after the ill-conceived beginning,Sunrise settles into an entertaining but uneven story. Marisa is agoraphobic and clinically depressed. Once this becomes clear, Marisa becomes a sympathetic character, and I rooted enthusiastically for her recovery. The precipitating causes of her situation and the events leading to her gradual return to health are not convincing. Still, Colgan avoids the standard literary depiction of the therapist as a buffoon. The story includes a romantic subplot, but the focus is an upbeat, optimistic account of Marisa’s gradual recovery. The relationship between Marisa and her grandmother was particularly appealing.
Sunrise drags at points with long digressions that do little to advance the plot. For example, the descriptions of Marisa’s skill in the kitchen remind me of the long lists of esoteric ingredients and extended procedures that accompany recipes in gourmet magazines like Food and Wine. An editor’s firm hand and discriminating eye could have corrected many of these problems.
The weak conclusion bookends the unfortunate beginning. I had the impression Colgan didn’t know how to bring the story to a close and resorted to a literary cheat (i.e., the magic solution). The rich guy mentioned briefly in the first chapter and in passing after that solves the financial woes and fulfills the desires of the central characters.
Despite the shortcomings I have noted above, this is an entertaining story populated by likable characters.