Synopses & Reviews
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 womens 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.
Review
"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 on The Cottage at Glass Beach
Review
"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 on The Cottage at Glass Beach
Review
"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)
Review
"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
Review
“Barbieris 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.” < b=""> K < k=""> aren <> C < k=""> ampbell <> <> , < i=""> Boston Globe <> on < i=""> The Lace Makers of Glenmara <>
Review
“The Lace Makers of Glenmara is richly peopled and beguilingly charming but what ultimately makes it so moving is Heather Barbieris deep understanding that no life is immune from sorrow and difficulty. I read this wonderful novel with enormous pleasure.” < b=""> M < k=""> argot <> L < k=""> ivesey <> <> , author of < i=""> The House on Fortune Street <> on < i=""> The Lace Makers of Glenmara <>
Review
“The Lace Makers of Glenmara is a charming, moving story, written with a delicate touch.” < b=""> J < k=""> oanne <> H < k=""> arris <> <> , author of < i=""> Chocolat <> and < i=""> The Girl with No Shadow <> , on < i=""> The Lace Makers of Glenmara <>
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.” < b=""> M < k=""> elinda <> B < k=""> argreen <> <> , < i=""> Seattle Times <>
Review
“A must read for fans of Sarah Addison Allens Garden Spells.” < b=""> T < k=""> ara <> Q < k=""> uinn <> <> , < i=""> Cleveland Plain Dealer <>
Review
“Strikes the perfect balance between high lit and mainstream womens fiction, infusing a potent and unforgettable love story with unforgettable characters that will remain with you long after the final chapter....[Barbieris narrative] will call out to readers of Joanne Harris, Alice Hoffman, and other modern masters of drama.” < i=""> Bookreporter.com <>
Review
“Barbieris mix of fairy tale and family drama in a picturesque seaside resort makes her third novel a terrific beach read.” < i=""> Library Journal <>
Review
“In the enchanting world of Maines Burkes 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.” < i=""> Publishers Weekly <>
Review
“Threads of magical realism throughout the book are quite appealing, and the seaside setting is enchanting.” < b=""> M < k=""> elissa <> P < k=""> arcel <> <> , < i=""> Romantic Times Book Review <>
Review
“Ms. Barbieris writerly sense of whimsy and retrospection implies that anyone can work through adversity to happiness - if only the volition is present.” < b=""> N < k=""> ancy <> C < k=""> arty <> L < k=""> epri <> <> , < i=""> New York Journal of Books <>
Review
“Reminiscent of Maeve Binchys stories of romance and family in tight-knit Irish communities, The Cottage at Glass Beach is full of warmth and sympathy.” < b=""> Katie Schneider, < i=""> The Oregonian <> <>
Synopsis
Married to the youngest attorney general in Massachusetts state history, Nora Cunningham is a picture-perfect political wife and a doting mother. But her carefully constructed life falls to pieces when she, along with the rest of the world, learns of the infidelity of her husband, Malcolm.
Humiliated and hounded by the press, Nora packs up her daughters — Annie, seven; and Ella, twelve — and takes refuge on Burke's Island, a craggy spit of land off the coast of Maine. Settled by Irish immigrants, the island is a place where superstition and magic are carried on the ocean winds, and wishes and dreams wash ashore with the changing tides.
Nora spent her first five years on the island but has not been back to the remote community for decades — not since that long ago summer when her mother disappeared at sea. One night while sitting alone on Glass Beach below the cottage where she spent her childhood, Nora succumbs to grief, her tears flowing into the ocean. Days later she finds an enigmatic fisherman named Owen Kavanagh shipwrecked on the rocks nearby. Is he, as her aunt's friend Polly suggests, a selkie — a mythical being of island legend — summoned by her heartbreak, or simply someone who, like Nora, is trying to find his way in the wake of his own personal struggles?
Just as she begins to regain her balance, her daughters embark on a reckless odyssey of their own — a journey that will force Nora to find the courage to chart her own course and finally face the truth about her marriage, her mother, and her long-buried past.
About the Author
The author of two previous novels, The Lace Makers of Glenmara and Snow in July, Heather Barbieri has won international prizes for her short fiction. She lives in Seattle with her family.