About the Book
Montauk, Long Island, 1938.
For three months, this humble fishing village will serve as the playground for New York City’s wealthy elite. Beatrice Bordeaux was looking forward to a summer of reigniting the passion between her and her husband, Harry. Instead, tasked with furthering his investment interest in Montauk as a resort destination, she learns she’ll be spending twelve weeks sequestered with the high society wives at The Montauk Manor—a two-hundred room seaside hotel—while Harry pursues other interests in the city.
College educated, but raised a modest country girl in Pennsylvania, Bea has never felt fully comfortable among these privileged women, whose days are devoted not to their children but to leisure activities and charities that seemingly benefit no one but themselves. She longs to be a mother herself, as well as a loving wife, but after five years of marriage she remains childless while Harry is increasingly remote and distracted. Despite lavish parties at the Manor and the Yacht Club, Bea is lost and lonely and befriends the manor’s laundress whose work ethic and family life stir memories of who she once was.
As she drifts further from the society women and their preoccupations and closer toward Montauk’s natural beauty and community spirit, Bea finds herself drawn to a man nothing like her husband –stoic, plain spoken and enigmatic. Inspiring a strength and courage she had almost forgotten, his presence forces her to face a haunting tragedy of her past and question her future.
Desperate to embrace moments of happiness, no matter how fleeting, she soon discovers that such moments may be all she has, when fates conspire to tear her world apart…
My Review
Bea wasn’t always part of a high society lifestyle. Growing up she did not live with the wealthy. So, she doesn’t quite feel comfortable socializing with the other wives. Instead, she begins to feel lonely while her husband grows further apart from her and cancels weekend trips. She had hoped she would have a child which would bring the couple closer, but that hasn’t happened yet.
She tries to fill her time with different activities but it hasn’t turned out the way she hoped. Loneliness envelopes her to the point where she finds herself drawn to another man. Someone very different than her husband.
Ohhhh…I couldn’t resist this one as the setting is very close to my home. Plus, I’ve been loving the 1930’s era lately. This book is no exception.
I will definitely be looking for more books by this author.
FTC Disclosure: I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.
About the Author
Born in England, Nicola Harrison moved to CA where she received a BA in Literature at UCLA before moving to NYC and earning an MFA in creative writing at Stony Brook. She is a member of The Writers Room, has short stories published in The Southampton Review and Glimmer Train and articles in Los Angeles Magazine and Orange Coast Magazine. She was the fashion and style staff writer for Forbes, had a weekly column at Lucky Magazine and is the founder of a personal styling business, Harrison Style. Montauk is Harrison's debut novel.
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I liked the setting as well as the time frame of the 1930s when I read this book. What was surprising for me was the very clearly demarcated class boundaries.
ReplyDeleteI need to read this one. I have it on my shelf but haven't had time yet. It does sound really good and I love the setting.
ReplyDeleteSounds good. I like that time period.
ReplyDelete