Synopses & Reviews
In this beautifully written tour de force of a novel,
Beth Gutcheon takes readers back to the coastal village of Dundee, Maine. There, in a Victorian summer house called Leeway Cottage, we witness the scenes of a long 20th century marriage.
In April of 1940, a rich girl of the Dundee summer colony named Sydney Brant marries a gifted Danish pianist, Laurus Moss. But almost at once, their views of the world and their marriage begin to diverge. When Laurus chooses to leave Sydney in the fall of 1941 to help build a Danish Resistance from London, Sydney is dismayed. By the time they are reunited four years later, Laurus's family and the reader have been through one of the most stirring stories of the war, Denmark's courageous grass-roots rescue of virtually all 7000 of the country's Jews.
In the decades to come, many people, especially their three grown children, will wonder if these two very different people understand each other at all. If they do, how do they stay together? Laurus likes to claim that in heaven you get to see the movie of your life, with all the blanks filled in. In their old age Sydney fears what he might see and why he wants to know; their children fear he'll die and there won't be any movie.
But there will be.
Performed by Elizabeth Marvel
Synopsis
In April 1940, as the Nazis march into Denmark, a rich girl of the Dundee summer colony names Sydney Brant marries a gifted Danish pianist, Laurus Moss. They believe the are well matched, as young lovers do, but almost at once, their views of the world and their marriage begin to diverge. Laurus's beloved family is in Copenhagen, hostage to what the fortunes of Hilter's war will bring, especially as Laurus's mother is Jewish. When Laurus chooses to leave Sydney in the fall of 1941 to help build a Danish Reistance from London, Sydney is dismayed. By the time they are reunited four years later, Laurus's family and the reader have been through one of the most stirring stories of the war, Denmark's courageous grassroots resuce of virtually all 7,000 of the country's Jews. Sydney in America has led a group kintting for the war effort and had a baby.
Synopsis
The critically acclaimed author of "More Than You Know" explores the relationship of a Danish couple, who marry as the Nazis march into Denmark in 1940. In the decades to come, through war and separation, reunion and relocation, many wonder if these two very different people understand each other at all. Abridged. 5 CDs.
About the Author
Beth Gutcheon is the critically acclaimed author of More Than You Know, Five Fortunes, Saying Grace, Domestic Pleasures, Still Missing, and The New Girls, as well as several film scripts, including the Academy Award nominee The Children of Theatre Street. She lives in New York City.