An orphaned 11 year-old works through his
grief when he goes to live with his great-aunt on a remote South Carolina
island.
Marcus Harshaw looks back on his life as an 11 year-old
who faced the tragic, sudden death of his single mother and then went to live
with his great-aunt Charlotte on a remote South Carolina island. The story is
predominantly set during Marcus's first summer on the island when Aunt
Charlotte--a thrice married and divorced, set-in-her-ways, reclusive
artist--took in precocious, self-contained Marcus and provided him a safe
haven. Marcus's formative years with his mother--and their chronic struggles to
make ends meet--made Marcus philosophically wise beyond his years, enabling him
to adapt and be sensitive toward his aunt's brooding, hermetic life. Charlotte
gained notoriety painting images of a deserted, dilapidated local house
nicknamed, Grief
Cottage, where the family who occupied the residence disappeared during
Hurricane Hazel in 1954. The battered, run-down cottage becomes a source of
intrigue for Marcus, as well, as he seeks to learn more about the shack's
history and the people who perished there. This quest unearths questions about
Marcus's own background, namely coming to grips with his relationship with his
mother, how he lost his best friend from school and identifying his unknown,
absent father.
Godwin (Publishing: A
Writer's Memoir) has written an
exquisitely rendered narrative that emotionally deepens with metaphorical
subplots that include the preservation of nested Loggerhead turtle eggs and the
presence of a ghost at Grief Cottage.
This grace-filled story probes aspects of life and death, isolation and
family, and how great pain and loss can ultimately lead to unforeseen
transcendence.
Bloomsbury USA, $27.00 Hardcover, 9781632867049
Publication Date: June 6, 2017
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NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (July 11, 2017), link HERE