Synopses & Reviews
The beauty of the New England countryside, the joys of forming a new family, and the adventure of renovating a nineteenth-century barn come together in Joe Monninger's warm and evocative memoir of home and hearth. When the author and his black Labrador, and Wendy and her eight-year-old son, move into a 6,000-square-foot barn in New Hampshire, they fall in love with the building, not realizing how much work it will take to remodel--let alone heat--their new home. While building a fence, putting in a garden, renovating the house, and exploring the land, the author finds his family's new life rooted in the area's old traditions, learning the history of covered bridges and New England's witchy past. They discover the best way to trim the grass (sheep), the delight of moving a 14-foot Christmas tree into their living room, and the spooky fun of holding a seance for Halloween. With the charms of New England front and center, this endearing memoir captures the pleasures large and small of making a new place your own.
Review
It takes a village to raise a barn. And it takes a village to renovate one, too, as Joseph Monninger discovered when he and his companion, Wendy, and her rambunctious 8-year-old son fell in live with an enormous, empty barn in Warren, N.H., and decided it would suit them as a budget-conscious home.
These weren't naive urbanites seeking a rustic weekend hideaway. Monninger is a hardy, handy outdoorsman and Wendy an even hardier, handier country girl. Her Thanksgiving turkey may have come from the supermarket, but the kitchen she cooked it in she built herself. Neither was she much fazed when the glass of water on the bedside table froze during a particularly punishing cold snap.
What makes this account so appealing is the cast of local characters who pitched in to fend off disasters that would have sent less committed homeowners running as if from a resident ghost: rotten footings, a leaky roof big enough to cover a mini-mall, a dubious septic system. Unruffled townsfolk attacked these problems with Yankee ingenuity and thrift, and threw a spare wood stove into the bargain. Monninger never once doubts his sanity or his good fortune, either, in gaining the great pleasures of life--love, parenthood, community, home--all in one swoop. -Boston Globe
Synopsis
Published to glowing reviews in hardcover and now in a handsome paperback edition, Joseph Monninger's finely crafted memoir of moving with his family to a barn in rural New Hampshire is part dream come true, part unexpected adventure. "An utterly charming story, told with grace and insight" (Booklist starred review), A Barn in New England perfectly captures the beauty of the New England countryside, the tests of renovating a home, and the pleasures large and small of making a new place your own.
About the Author
Joseph Monninger is the author of the memoirs Home Waters and A Barn in New England (both by Chronicle Books) and seven books of fiction and nonfiction. He lives in New Hampshire.