After her mother's sudden death when Nora Cunningham was
only 5 years old, her father moved them away from Burke's
Island and all the memories of her mother. Decades later,
Nora is now a mother of two daughters and wife to a famous
politician who stepped out on their marriage with another
woman. Wanting to get away from him, the media, and her
life, Nora packs up the kids and takes them to Burke's
Island to visit her Aunt Maire, her mother's sister.
Nora doesn't remember Aunt Maire that well as she hasn't
seen her since she was five years old, but she is drawn to
this woman to have some kind of connection to her past.
With her father now passed away, there really is no one
else to tell Nora the story of what really happened to her
mother. Nora is heartbroken and her life is in shambles.
Her husband might still be having an affair, her older
daughter is acting up, and she is just miserable.
Thankfully, Burke's Island and its small community helps
Nora start to mend her broken heart. With the arrival of a
mysterious shipwrecked man named Owen, life starts to get a
little more exciting for her. Will Nora find the answers
to her past, rebuild her future and find love again at
Burke's Island? Or will her past come back to haunt her and
ruin her future?
THE COTTAGE AT GLASS BEACH is a novel about a family going
through a separation, mixed with some folklore to make
things interesting. The story starts off at a slow pace
and it took me a while to connect with the characters due
to a lack of characterization. At one point, I realized I
had no idea how old Nora's children were since it wasn't
said for quite a while. Nora's age was never given either,
but I guessed around 40 years old due to her children's
ages and the age of her aunt.
THE COTTAGE AT GLASS BEACH relies heavily on visualization
of the beach which the children play at. The seven year old
child talked in words way too big for her age and came off
in narration more like an adult then a child. The mother
seemed to resent her children; left them home alone, to
wander alone, and just didn't seem to care about them as
much as strangers on the Island did.
The folklore aspects were enjoyable and there were aspects
that I found interesting. If the characters were at least
described so I could picture them, it would have added so
much more. Also Nora as the main character was extremely
unlikeable, as was her meddling 12 year old. Overall, THE
COTTAGE AT GLASS BEACH just didn't thrill me like I wished
it would have.
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.
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