The Beach House
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4.5 • 512 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Celebrate the 20th Anniversary of The Beach House! The most fulfilling journey is one that leads back home…
"Mary Alice Monroe is helping to redefine the beauty and magic of the Carolina Lowcountry. Every book she has written has felt like a homecoming to me."
—Pat Conroy
Twenty years ago, Caretta Rutledge left her Southern roots far behind for a successful career as a businesswoman in Chicago. But an unusual request from her mother—coming just as her own life is spinning out of control—has Cara heading back to the scenic Lowcountry of her childhood summers.
Before long, the rhythms of the island open her heart as she repairs the family beach house, becomes a bona fide “turtle lady” and renews old acquaintances long thought lost. But it is in reconnecting with her mother that she will learn life’s most precious lessons—true love involves sacrifice, family is forever and the mistakes of the past can be forgiven.
Known for her moving characters and emotional honesty, Mary Alice Monroe brings readers a beautifully rendered story that explores the fragile yet enduring bond between mothers and daughters.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
After losing her high-powered advertising job in Chicago, Caretta Rutledge grudgingly returns to her low-country roots at her mother's behest. Cara has long resented her mother, who focused her maternal efforts more on looking after the annual loggerhead turtle spawn than on protecting herself and her children from their abusive father. But when Cara learns that her mother is ill, she must lay her bitterness aside and try to make amends. Cara starts by restoring her mother's small beach house and joining the same turtle brigade she resented while growing up. In the process, she reconnects with an old friend and finds love in the arms of a local boat owner and naturalist. This poignant read won't disappoint fans of so-called "Southern Fiction"; the South, which represents both poison and tonic, is eloquently portrayed here, and its healing properties inevitably come to the fore. Just enough information about the loggerhead turtles and their spawning cycle opens each chapter, swiftly engaging the reader from the outset, and all of the integral characters are richly developed. With its evocative, often beautiful prose and keen insights into family relationships, Monroe's latest (following The Four Seasons) is an exceptional and heartwarming work of fiction that is bound to please fans of women's fiction and romances alike.
Customer Reviews
Perfect summer read
Just what I want for June!
Becomes a part of your heart
What a wonderful book - great characters, location and frank and moving storylines. Loved the emphasis, encouraging people to be their true selves. - and relationships among men/women, parents/offspring and friends. I especially enjoyed the care given to nesting loggerhead turtles. I can't wait to read another book by Monroe, who is one of our most gifted modern writers. Her best-seller status is well-deserved. Monroe's works will be classics.
The beach house
I really liked the book and I looked forward to the informational bits about the turtles at the beginning of each chapter.the life of the turtle and the life of the story flowed together nicely.