Margreete's Harbor: A Novel
Apr 2021 · St. Martin's Press
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About this ebook
Winner of the Maine Literary Award for Fiction
A literary novel set on the coast of Maine during the 1960s, tracing the life of a family and its matriarch as they negotiate sharing a home.
Eleanor Morse's Margreete’s Harbor begins with a fire: a fiercely-independent, thrice-widowed woman living on her own in a rambling house near the Maine coast forgets a hot pan on the stovetop, and nearly burns her place down.
When Margreete Bright calls her daughter Liddie to confess, Liddie realizes that her mother can no longer live alone. She, her husband Harry, and their children Eva and Bernie move from a settled life in Michigan across the country to Margreete’s isolated home, and begin a new life.
Margreete’s Harbor tells the story of ten years in the history of a family: a novel of small moments, intimate betrayals, arrivals and disappearances that coincide with America during the late 1950s through the turbulent 1960s. Liddie, a professional cellist, struggles to find space for her music in a marriage that increasingly confines her; Harry’s critical approach to the growing war in Vietnam endangers his new position as a high school history teacher; Bernie and Eva begin to find their own identities as young adults; and Margreete slowly descends into a private world of memories, even as she comes to find a larger purpose in them.
This beautiful novel—attuned to the seasons of nature, the internal dynamics of a family, and a nation torn by its contradicting ideals—reveals the largest meanings in the smallest and most secret moments of life. Readers of Elizabeth Strout, Alice Munro, and Anne Tyler will find themselves at home in Margreete’s Harbor.
A literary novel set on the coast of Maine during the 1960s, tracing the life of a family and its matriarch as they negotiate sharing a home.
Eleanor Morse's Margreete’s Harbor begins with a fire: a fiercely-independent, thrice-widowed woman living on her own in a rambling house near the Maine coast forgets a hot pan on the stovetop, and nearly burns her place down.
When Margreete Bright calls her daughter Liddie to confess, Liddie realizes that her mother can no longer live alone. She, her husband Harry, and their children Eva and Bernie move from a settled life in Michigan across the country to Margreete’s isolated home, and begin a new life.
Margreete’s Harbor tells the story of ten years in the history of a family: a novel of small moments, intimate betrayals, arrivals and disappearances that coincide with America during the late 1950s through the turbulent 1960s. Liddie, a professional cellist, struggles to find space for her music in a marriage that increasingly confines her; Harry’s critical approach to the growing war in Vietnam endangers his new position as a high school history teacher; Bernie and Eva begin to find their own identities as young adults; and Margreete slowly descends into a private world of memories, even as she comes to find a larger purpose in them.
This beautiful novel—attuned to the seasons of nature, the internal dynamics of a family, and a nation torn by its contradicting ideals—reveals the largest meanings in the smallest and most secret moments of life. Readers of Elizabeth Strout, Alice Munro, and Anne Tyler will find themselves at home in Margreete’s Harbor.
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April 20, 2021
Review I received a free electronic ARC of this excellent historical novel from Netgalley, Eleanor Morse, and St. Martin's Press. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read Margreete's Harbor of my own volition, and this review represents my honest opinion of this work. I am especially pleased to have 'found' Eleanor Morse. She is a writer with warmth and style I find particularly pleasing, one I will follow. A novel of the 1960's on the coast of Maine, this tale brings us right into the trials and tribulations of the day, as well as immersing us into a family dynamic that many of us have faced at one time or another. Margreete Bright, a strong-willed, independent soul, is drifting into dementia. Her only child Liddie lives with her husband Harry and their children Eva and Bernie, in Michigan. Their life is well established and fulfilling but Margreete has set fire to the kitchen, it is not safe for her to continue to live alone, and there is not enough money to hire a home nurse. Liddie would not consider placing her mother in a nursing home - an act that would kill her sooner rather than later. The only foreseeable solution is for Liddie to uproot her family, move home, and start over in Burnt Harbor so they will be there to take care of Margreete. They will all miss their life in Michigan but must do what they must do. Margreete will not leave her home so they must go to her. And it's not so bad as it could have been. The family home Liddie grew up in, though a bit shabby and needing upkeep, is large and accommodating and situated on the harbor. Harry finds work teaching at a local school, Liddie set's up cello classes and soon has as many students as she can handle, and though she misses the group she did concerts with for years in Michigan, she is sure she will find another group of like-minded souls. The kids find friends quickly and don't hate their school, and life settles down to a dull roar. Some of the problems that dementia brings on are nerve-racking but Margreete is also very funny and is occasionally the woman she once was. We watch this family grow and flourish, the love and compassion even the children have for Margreete making it all worthwhile. The 1960s were very trying times. We have the Vietnam War, the assassinations of JFK, MLK, and Bobby Kennedy, the moonwalk, and the cold war. We see them all through the eyes of this family, these youngsters, and if you are like me, it puts you right back there. But there were very good occasions in those times, and we see them as well. Altogether an enjoyable walk through the past, with a family you will love. I can't wait to read more from Eleanor Marse. Fortunately, she has more works already out there.
About the author
Eleanor Morse is the author of White Dog Fell from the Sky and An Unexpected Forest, which won the Independent Publisher’s Gold Medalist Award for Best Regional Fiction in the Northeast United States, and was selected as the Winner of the Best Published Fiction by the Maine writers and Publishers Alliance. Morse has taught in adult education programs, in prisons, and in university systems, both in Maine and in southern Africa. She lives on Peaks Island, Maine.
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