The Cottage at Glass Beach - by Heather Barbieri (Paperback)

About the Book

Married to the youngest attorney general in Massachusetts history, Nora is a picture-perfect political wife. But when she learns of her husband's infidelity, Nora packs up her daughters and takes refuge on a craggy spit off the coast of Maine.

Book Synopsis

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.

From the Back Cover

Married to the youngest attorney general in Massachusetts history, Nora Cunningham is a picture-perfect political wife. But when she learns of her husband's infidelity, Nora packs up her daughters and takes refuge on Burke's Island, the craggy spit off the coast of Maine where Nora spent her childhood--until her mother disappeared at sea. By their cottage on Glass Beach, Nora succumbs to grief, her tears flowing into the ocean; days later an enigmatic fisherman named Owen Kavanagh washes up on the rocks nearby. Could he be a selkie--a mythical being of island legend--summoned by heartbreak? Or is Owen simply someone trying, like Nora, to find his way in the wake of his own struggles?

Review Quotes

"The Cottage at Glass Beach, an enchanting novel about mothers and daughters on an isolated island, is a romantic, delicious read. Barbieri's beautiful writing and beguiling world view revel in the realities and the mysteries of the sea and of life itself." - Nancy Thayer, New York Times bestselling author of Heat Wave
"Barbieri's deft writing style is charmingly wry yet evocative, with details and descriptions both telling and vivid. . . . . A sweet summertime yarn [that] . . . provides a lovely, leisurely escape to the bucolic charms of the Emerald Isle." - Karen Campbell, Boston Globe on The Lace Makers of Glenmara
"The Lace Makers of Glenmara is richly peopled and beguilingly charming but what ultimately makes it so moving is Heather Barbieri's deep understanding that no life is immune from sorrow and difficulty. I read this wonderful novel with enormous pleasure." - Margot Livesey, author of The House on Fortune Street on The Lace Makers of Glenmara
"The Lace Makers of Glenmara is a charming, moving story, written with a delicate touch." - Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat and The Girl with No Shadow, on The Lace Makers of Glenmara
"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....[Barbieri's narrative] will call out to readers of Joanne Harris, Alice Hoffman, and other modern masters of drama." - Bookreporter.com
"A must read for fans of Sarah Addison Allen's Garden Spells." - Tara Quinn, Cleveland Plain Dealer
"Ms. Barbieri's writerly sense of whimsy and retrospection implies that anyone can work through adversity to happiness - if only the volition is present." - Nancy Carty Lepri, New York Journal of Books
"Reminiscent of Maeve Binchy's stories of romance and family in tight-knit Irish communities, The Cottage at Glass Beach is full of warmth and sympathy." - Katie Schneider, The Oregonian
"Heather Barbieri's The Cottage at Glass Beach is a moving, heartfelt story told with vivid description. Open the book and listen--you'll hear the waves crashing onto the shore." - Sarah Jio, author of The Bungalow and The Violets of March
"Threads of magical realism throughout the book are quite appealing, and the seaside setting is enchanting." - Melissa Parcel, Romantic Times Book Review
"Where Barbieri shines is in her depiction of the microcosm of the island and in the strong links between the generations. Nora discover that 'Everything is connected. The geography of the island, of the soul, ' and Barbieri makes that connection real." - Melinda Bargreen, Seattle Times
"Barbieri's mix of fairy tale and family drama in a picturesque seaside resort makes her third novel a terrific beach read." - Library Journal
"Part seaside fairytale, part exploration of real-world tensions....Let yourself be transported to Burke's Island, a salt-tinged place steeped in legends of selkies and shipwrecks, but also full of bruised and hopeful people making their wayward, human ways toward happiness." - Marisa de los Santos, author of Falling Together and Belong to Me
"Barbieri does such a wonderful job setting up the beauty and mystery of the island and its rich Gaelic roots that it is not a stretch to ask the reader to imagine that the place is also magical. A wonderful, subtle, transporting story." - Susan Maguire, Booklist, starred review
"In the enchanting world of Maine's Burke's Island, fanciful stories - of captured selkies becoming dutiful wives and tears cried in the sea beckoning lovers to shore - are gracefully woven into modern reality." - Publishers Weekly