The Boat House Café - by Linda Cardillo (Paperback)

About the Book

Everyone has secrets, some more than most. A story of courage in the face of loss and the sacrifices one makes for love.

Book Synopsis

Everyone has secrets, some more than most.

Armed with her Irish mother's recipes and a willingness to roll up her sleeves, Mae Keaney retreats to the island of her childhood to escape a shameful and bitter past. After turning an abandoned fishing camp into a successful café, she becomes known for both her pies and her fierce solitude.

But when a catastrophic fire threatens her home and livelihood, Mae confronts the reality-and loneliness-of her isolation. She reluctantly accepts help from Tobias Monroe, a Native American who shares her intense need for a solitary life on the wild land.

Torn between a deepening connection to Tobias and her desire to guard her secrets, Mae struggles to preserve the isolated existence she once thought was her only choice. Will she cling to the false safety of her reclusive life or reach out to forge new bonds of family and community when faced with not only a devastating illness but also the threat of losing her child?

The Boat House Café, the first book in the multigenerational family saga First Light-a story of courage in the face of loss and the sacrifices one makes for love.

Review Quotes

First Place, 20^th-Century Fiction, Goethe Award for Historical Fiction

"Ultimately, this beautifully written, passionate, page-turning adventure of a blended family history and a romance of grand proportions will have readers yearning to continue the series with The Uneven Road and Island Legacy." - Chanticleer Book Reviews

"The Boat House Café ...is a compelling opening in a series, a novel with powerful themes, a gripping narrative style, and an ingenious plot structure that makes it a work of great entertainment." - Ruffina Oserio, Readers' Favorite