Eden - by Jeanne McWilliams Blasberg (Paperback)

About the Book

"Becca Meister Fitzpatrick-- wife, mother, grandmother, and pillar of the community-- is the dutiful steward of her family's iconic summer tradition... until she discovers her recently deceased husband squandered their nest egg. As she struggles to accept what is likely her last season in Long Harbor, Becca is inspired by her granddaughter's boldness in the face of impending single-motherhood, and summons the courage to reveal a long-buried secret: the existence of a daughter she gave up fifty years earlier"--Back cover.

Book Synopsis

2017 Beverly Hills Book Award Winner in New Fiction
2017 Beverly Hills Book Award Winner in Women's Fiction
2018 IBPA Ben Franklin Finalist in Best New Voices: Fiction
Becca Meister Fitzpatrick--wife, mother, grandmother, and pillar of the community--is the dutiful steward of her family's iconic summer tradition . . . until she discovers her recently deceased husband squandered their nest egg. As she struggles to accept that this is likely her last season in Long Harbor, Becca is inspired by her granddaughter's boldness in the face of impending single-motherhood, and summons the courage to reveal a secret she was forced to bury long ago: the existence of a daughter she gave up fifty years ago. The question now is how her other daughter, Rachel--with whom Becca has always had a strained relationship--will react. Eden is the account of the days leading up to the Fourth of July weekend, as Becca prepares to disclose her secret and her son and brothers conspire to put the estate on the market, interwoven with the century-old history of Becca's family--her parents' beginnings and ascent into affluence, and her mother's own secret struggles in the grand home her father named "Eden."

Review Quotes

"The 2000 summer season in fictional Long Harbor, Rhode Island, becomes the setting for a family reunion and the revelation of a long-held secret, not to mention the airing of more than a few resentments, in this debut novel. An engrossing, character-driven family saga."
--Kirkus

"Eden is [a] poignant and powerful debut novel."
--Reader Views

"With familial drama so mesmerizing and gripping from the first page, it's hard to believe that this is only Blasberg's first literary blessing to the world."
--Brit+Co

" . . . [A] beautifully written masterpiece that takes you on a historical journey inside a tormented family's summer home to reveal painful secrets, utter heartbreak, and major family drama. An inspiring first novel."
--Boston Herald

"A stirring historical novel perfect for women's fiction fans."
--Booklist

"Eden is not just another farewell-to-the-summer-house novel, but instead a masterfully interwoven family saga with indelible characters, unforgettable stories, and true pathos. Most impressive, there's not an ounce of fat on this excellent book."
--Anita Shreve, author of The Stars are Fire

"Eden is a heartbreaking novel about the wounds that are passed down through generations. Blasberg's voice is strong and clear, and her characters are so real--with their ambitions and their weaknesses, their good intentions and their resentments--that no reader is likely to forget them."
--Ivy Pochoda, author of Visitation Street

"Jeanne Blasberg¹s brilliant first novel conjures a family home so poignantly that I feel as if I¹ve returned there every summer of my life. In Eden, Blasberg invites us into the fearsome echo chamber of a dysfunctional family, and shows us --Louisa Hall, author of Speak and The Carriage House

About the Author

Jeanne Blasberg is an award-winning author and essayist. Her novel The Nine (SWP 2019) was honored with the Foreword Indies Gold Award in Thriller & Suspense and the Gold Medal and Juror's Choice in the National Indie Excellence Awards. Eden (SWP 2017), her debut, won the Benjamin Franklin Silver Award for Best New Voice in Fiction and was a finalist for the Sarton Women's Book Award for Historical Fiction. Her most recent novel, Daughter of a Promise (SWP 2024) is a modern retelling of the legend of David and Bathsheba, completing the thematic trilogy she began with Eden and The Nine.

Jeanne cochairs the board of the Boston Book Festival and serves on the Executive Committee of GrubStreet, one of the country's preeminent creative writing centers. Jeanne was named a Southampton Writers Conference BookEnds Fellow in April 2021. She reviews contemporary fiction for the New York Journal of Books, When not in New England, she splits her time between Park City, UT, and growing organic vegetables in Verona, Wisconsin.