11 year old Marcus Harshaw found himself living with his Great Aunt Charlotte on an island off the coast of South Carolina after his mother's accidental death. Marcus' mother had taken out a large insurance policy and so he now had a trust fund. Aunt Charlotte, an unconventional woman who made a good living painting, had never had children of her own but was willing to care for the boy.

Charlotte relinquished her bedroom and moved to her studio, so that Marcus would have his own room. All his life Marcus had shared a bed with his late mother. He never knew his Dad but his mother had shown him a photo of the man. She promised to tell him more about the man at a later date but died before she could fulfill the promise. Charlotte's friend and former business partner, Lachicotte, took a liking to Marcus, a boy who had never had a male figure in his life. Coral, an elderly summer resident next door, shared stories with Marcus about life on the island when he visited her daily.

At one end of the island was a decrepit cottage that was known as the Grief Cottage. Back in 1954 a hurricane had hit the island and the family occupying the cottage had disappeared. Marcus was fascinated by the cottage and visited it almost daily. There was no record of the names of the family members who had been in the house when the hurricane hit. Eventually Marcus learned the name of the family's son but not before he met the missing boy's ghost at the cottage.

This coming of age story will also appeal to those who enjoy stories about life on barrier islands and the South.

I am sure there will be mixed reviews on this book. Is it a ghost story, a coming of age story, is it for YA readers or adults? I am not sure which it is, but I really enjoyed the story.

Marcus our main character is suddenly left alone when his mother dies going out for pizza. Sent to his great Aunt Charlotte, a reclusive artist living on an island in South Carolina.

The story is told over a summer but also jumps back to the past a few times. Marcus fills his days tending the turtle egg mound and exploring the ramshackle cottage to the north. When he finds out the family who was living there had a son and they had all disappeared in Hurricane Hazel and were presumed dead he is convinced that he can see the ghost of the boy and goes every day to make contact with him.

On one hand I enjoyed the story and the language the author used and on the other hand, it was a bit disorienting when Marcus was 'talking' to people who weren't there and I still don't understand the Wheezer characters frequent appearances in Marcus's head.

The last section lost me. After all of the build up the ending was just not what I expected.

3.5 A very slow paced book which took me a bit to fully engage. Two things kept me reading. The first was the beautiful writing, Godwin is exceptional at her word usage, to create both atmosphere and her characters. The second was the character of Marcus, only eleven when he lost his mother and sent to live with a reclusive artist, who is his great aunt. He is just so likable, responsible beyond his years and yet still full of curiosity and wonder. It was though, his character that presented me with another hurdle to overcome. Could an eleven year old be this mature sounding in this thoughts and reasoning.i decided that he could given that his mom worked so hard and he did his best to take care of her, and took care of many things in their home to make things easier for her.

The setting is fantastic as well, a beach cottage on the ocean with a derelict cottage at the end of the strip. This is the grief cottage, named so because three residents, one a teenage boy are lost in a hurricane, fifty years before. Ghosts, real and the ghosts we carry inside, from previous hurts, our childhoods and how we use what we can to move forward and expel them. Families, we sometimes need to make, and sometimes these can turn out wonderful. So this is loosely an actual ghost story but goes much deeper. Was quite engaged by books end and loved watching Marcus come to terms with his new life, though a surprise when he is older, a reconnection Wil provide him with an answer to a mystery from his old.

ARC from Netgalley.

I have read Gail Godwin for decades so was looking forward to her latest novel.

I went back and forth as to what I thought. The one constant was her beautiful writing.

A coming of age story. After his [single] mother's death, eleven-year-old Marcus is sent to live on a small South Carolina island with his great aunt Charlotte, a reclusive painter [and likely, closer to an alcoholic, rather than a person who just likes her wine]. She tells Marcus of a ruined cottage that she formerly visited regularly and from which she makes a livelihood by painting its likeness. Called "Grief Cottage" by the islanders, Marcus becomes entranced with the ruined, empty building as a boy and his parents disappeared from it during a hurricane fifty years before and their bodies were never found.

Both Marcus and Charlotte are solitary people but they have a lovely, if odd, relationship. She's supposed to be the caretaker, but... Perhaps it's because they are both lost souls. Marcus is a very old soul so he fits in beautifully with his new friends on the island--of an older generation--notably Lachiotte [Lash] and Charlie Coggins.

Marcus also befriends the elderly invalid Coral Upchurch [have to love that name!]. Coral is responsible for this: "... I have to put in requests to my brain, as one does at the library, and then a little worker takes my slip and disappears into the stacks." [Loved that] He is also an incredibly helpful, giving person -- to Charlotte, Coral, Lash, Charlie.

Wheezer, a contemporary of Marcus' before his mother's death, had a big impact on Marcus [related early on in the book]. I wondered if he would figure in later--and lo, he did.

Billed as a sort of ghost story--well, sometimes, but more coming of age, grief, remorse, memories and trying to fit in. The lost boy in the cottage is not the only ghost, however. And there is the gremlin. And other parallels--causes of death--revealing no more as a small spoiler alert.

I vacillated on what to rate this book because my feelings kept changing. It took a while for me to get into the rhythm of the book. And my interest in the story waxed and waned. But, the ending elevated it to a four for me. [Really a strong 3.5]

I would like to thank Gail Godwin, Bloomsbury USA and Netgalley for giving me this book for my honest review
Review By Stephanie
Eleven year old Marcus just lost his mother and is now being sent to a small South Carolina Island to live with his great aunt. Aunt Charlotte is a painter who doesn’t paint anymore and has a past that has her keeping to herself. She points out a ruined cottage to Marcus that she visits regularly for the past thirty years. She felt a connection to this cottage because like the cottage Aunt Charlotte is ruined as well.
The people of this small South Carolina Island called the cottage the “Grief Cottage” because one day fifty years ago a boy and his parents went missing during a hurricane. The bodies of this family were never found and the cottage as stayed empty for all those years. Marcus decides to start visiting the cottage daily, at first it was an escape from the loneliness while Aunt Charlotte would hide in her studio. Each day he would build up enough courage to get close to the cottage. Then one day the ghost of the boy revealed himself to Marcus……and that is enough retelling of the story for this reviewer! You will have to read the book to see what intentions the ghost boy has for Marcus.
What a good story! I am a sucker for a book that contains a ghost! I love trying to figure out the intentions of the ghost and what the ghost represents. This book was so beautifully written, and Gail did an amazing job capturing the beauty of this beach side town in South Carolina. As I was reading I would totally be picturing the town and the beautiful little cottage!

This is a lovely and mysterious book. Eleven-year-old Marcus's mother dies and he is sent to live with his great aunt, a reclusive artist who lives on the Carolina shore. Marcus mourns his mother and worries about being an imposition on his aunt. He finds escape in an old, dilapidated cottage, the ghost that haunts it, and a clutch of turtle eggs waiting to hatch under the boardwalk by his house. Marcus is befriended by an array of quirky characters who show him the true meaning of family. Godwin creates the magic and mystery that we have come to expect from her.

I flew through this book. Could not put it down. When I requested it, I must have missed the part about it being told from the perspective of an 11 year old. If I had seen that I probably would not have read it and what a loss for me that would have been. Marcus is a boy who loses his mother (never having had a father) to a car accident and goes to live with his 50-something year old great aunt, Charlotte, at her beach house. She is an artist and very used to living on her own. The book follows his first year (and then some) living there, his friendship with Lachicotte, Charlotte's ex, his visits to grief cottage and the visitor there. I don't want to say any more. Just read this book. It is fantastic.

Unique story about struggling. Both Marcus and his Aunt are struggling, feeling alone and isolated, each coping the only way they know how. This story is both heartbreaking and inspiring, demonstrating the need for human connection.

I have long been a fan of Gail Godwin and have inhaled every book she's written. She has, I believe, outdone herself with Grief Cottage. I sat up and read all night to finish this book in one sitting. There were passages that I had to re=read so I could savor the words and I was sorry when the story ended. Well done, Ms. Godwin, well done, and I thank you

Characters inner ruins lay concealed, their grief diverted by obsessions and addictions, in Gail Godwin's novel Grief Cottage.

After the death of his single mother, eleven-year-old Marcus' only living family member, his Aunt Charlotte, becomes his guardian. While his depressed aunt spends her days in her art studio, painting and sipping bottles of red wine, Marcus uses his honed homemaking skills to keep the beach front cottage spic and span, making himself useful, as he did for his working mom. Marcus is also an expert caretaker, responsible and useful; his own needs are shunt aside, his own grief and doubt internalized.

The rest of his day Marcus walks the South Carolina beach to visit the deserted house locals call Grief Cottage. Marcus is obsessed to know more about the tragedy that took place there. A family vacationing at the cottage disappeared in the 1954 hurricane, the parents searching for their missing son. How could no one have recorded the family's name? Marcus visits the empty shell of a house daily, 'courting' the ghost of the boy who appears to him.

"Marcus feels the pain of others," said Aunt Charlotte, "even when they're dead and gone."

Charlotte's cottage is filled with grief. Charlotte tries to escape the memory of her 'devil' father who at age five began to 'poison' her. It is 'the good old family horror story', Greek or Shakespearian in nature. Marcus is burdened by his lonely childhood, shamed when his one friend discovered he shared a bed with his mother. In a rage, Marcus beat the boy up. He underwent counseling and then his mother left her job and they moved-- to worse conditions--then his mother was killed in a car accident.

In the galley reader's note, Godwin writes that she was inspired by stories of ghosts whose arrival coincides with a mental crisis, tales grounded in 'daily life,' but which 'leaves a window for the possibility of a reality we haven't discovered yet."

"People see what they want to see. Or imagine they saw. "

For a lonely eleven-year-old child in a new place, deep in grief, imagining a ghostly friend is not a far stretch. I had Homer the Ghost to keep me company when we moved the year I turned eleven. I knew he was imaginary. Marcus has to work to keep his 'realities' separate, the duties he owed to his aunt and to the ghost boy, to keep his sanity. It makes him feel even more isolated, for who would understand?

I was compelled by this story to read far into the night. Even the supporting characters are sympathetic, full and real. There is a climatic revelation, and life goes on as it had, Marcus and his aunt supporting each other. And at the very end, a moment of grace returns Marcus something he had lost and gives him something he had long searched for.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Well, that was disappointing. From the beginning, Grief Cottage sounded intriguing and lovely, so I was really exited to start the book as soon as I received it (the cover is beautiful too!). Unfortunately, that excitement quickly turned into unease. You see, the writing from the first chapter is just so ... choppy and hard to get into. Which really takes away from the interesting story.

Honestly, I was tempted to give a lower rating, but because I really enjoyed Marcus's journey and the story that was beneath the rather shaky writing, I bumped it up a star. And even though I may not have enjoyed this as much as I'd hoped to, it should still be given a chance - simply because of its heartfelt story.

Thank you again to Bloomsbury, for giving me the opportunity to review this.

As an avid reader of novels set in the south, I would recommend this novel. Enjoyed immensely!

I'm still a bit on the fence about this book. Whilst the story is beautifully written and flows well, I kept thinking that this was meant for a much younger audience than me, at thirty-five. Especially the portions of the book that deal with the ghost.

Oddly at the same time, I found myself thinking that the young man at the center of it all seemed much too advanced for his age and couldn't imagine a child so young having the self-awareness that he displayed in this novel. Because of these two conflicting sides, I find it difficult to decide what I really thought about this book.

The novel's backdrop is amazingly detailed and makes you feel and see exactly what the characters do. I loved the way the author described the setting, as well as the emotions of the characters. The history of the island and the people on it was also fun to read about and made me eager to keep turning pages, but there was something that was missing for me. I can't quite describe exactly what it was, but I didn't feel the strong connection with this book that I should have--perhaps that was because it had such a young protagonist?

Either way, I'm still grateful for the opportunity to have read it.

This review is based on a complementary copy from the publisher, provided through Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

“I wish I knew what she was trying to walk out of, what kind of debris in her history she needed to sort out.”

As this novel focuses so much on young Marcus, living with his reclusive great aunt Charlotte after his mother passes away I think a younger audience would enjoy it so much more. But that doesn’t take away the pleasure for adults. The struggle is immediate, as Marcus deeply loves his mother and is cruelly called her ‘little husband’. Certainly in a household without a father, where the single mother struggles to make ends meet, a boy can feel conflicted. My heart went out to him for these reasons- wanting to do things for her and then the stain of cruel taunts making it sound like something sexual (it’s not). When his mother tragically dies in a car accident, he feels he is a burden on Aunt Charlotte, whom he never really got to know. There is a distance in the family’s history, and too much he doesn’t understand about the relationship between his great aunt and his own grandmother- whom nothing was ever good enough for, including his own mother. Why did his Aunt run off from the family? There reasons, things that poisoned the family structure and the reader slowly comes to know what they are.

Over time, he may just realize his Aunt Charlotte needs him as much as he needs her. On this South Carolina beach, it isn’t just family memories and secrets disturbing the balance. His aunt is a gifted painter, whose been able to live off her work comfortably enough. Highly popular are her paintings involving a cottage, named Grief Cottage after a family was swept away during a hurricane decades past. There is a ghost- a young boy that appears to Marcus- what is it that ties them together? I really like that the author created a boy who is already troubled, doesn’t seem to know much about his father, feels like an unwanted orphan, and then the ghost sightings. Aunt Charlotte is a mess too, and while Marcus comes of age, there is much growing for his relative as well. We’re none of us finished products, and those we step in to care for, may in turn save us too.

Somehow it manages to be a ghost story that flows with a family story, rather than coming off as something silly. The characters throughout are just what Marcus needs to heal. Aunt Charlotte isn’t just a silly old spinster, so often in novels any woman past a certain age doesn’t seem like a real person. She has a story, she is lively and strong, blunt with her honesty to Marcus. I kept thinking of Judi Dench in my head, it played as a movie. I enjoyed it, it was tender and sad but hopeful too.

Publication Date: June 6, 2017

Bloomsbury USA

I was privledged to receive an advanced readers copy of this gem of a novel. I am a very selective reader and was blown away by this beautifully written book. I am going back to read it a second time because of the emotional impact of the first reading. This book has so many real life moments and lessons. So poignant and sad, I cried while reading during my commute. Well done.

An interesting story about grief and loneliness wrapped around a ghost story. Good but not great, I felt for the main character but somehow this story just didn't click with me.

3.5★
Coming of age and ghosts are not my favorite subjects in reading but the setting and writing here made this one a satisfying read. As is often the case, Marcus is not like any eleven year old I know. I often wonder if kids of this age really think as deeply as these stories suggest.
When he comes to live with his great aunt Charlotte following the tragic death of his mother he is not the only one feeling loss, alienation, hopelessness, and grief.
We have all had to come through that transitional time in life so these stories of self-discovery and maturation strike a chord and can be easy to relate to.
In a brief introduction the author let’s the reader know that she is “drawn to those crossover places in ghost stories and novels: the hair-thin junctions between sanity as we understand it and what we call the other side.” In this book there is a ghost who is a full-fledged character with an identity. With a less capable author this could have been precarious but in my opinion she was successful in pulling it off. There was atmosphere, mystery, suppression, and revelation in this well told tale complete with a satisfying denouement.

Remarkable. Haunting. Unforgettable.

I read the last page with a sigh, so sorry it was ending, but knowing I would return to visit again and again through the years to come.

In Grief Cottage Gail Godwin has touched that rarified atmosphere that pervades memorable Southern novels. There's a bit of a Pat Conroy feel, although that may just be due to the setting in the South Carolina sea islands with a hint of Low Country Gullah coming through.

There's also a whiff of To Kill a Mockingbird that caught me by surprise. Not that Grief Cottage is anything like To Kill a Mockingbird, because it isn't. I think it was just that old Southern atmosphere. Time moved slowly and felt as thick as molasses. Uncomfortable secrets were swept under the rug never to be faced or acknowledged. Ghosts come in many guises.

Don't let this treasure pass you by.

Grief Cottage is a remarkable novel that combines a ghost story and a coming of age story with skillful plotting and impressive prose. It is so easy to fall in love with eleven-year-old Marcus, to feel his sense of loss after his mother's death and his apprehension at being sent to live with his reclusive great aunt on South Carolina island. He worries about being a burden to his reclusive Aunt Charlotte, about being sent away.

Grief Cottage, so named after a hurricane swept away a family 50 years ago, lies at one end of the island and Aunt Charlotte's paintings of the ruin are her most popular. To fill his hours while Charlotte paints in seclusion, Marcus visits Grief Cottage daily. When the ghost of a fourteen-year-old boy reveals himself, Marcus is unsure if the boy is friend or foe, but his fascination grows.

The characters are all rich and unique, and the story unwinds slowly with beautiful details of the island and its inhabitants, Marcus' fascination with the sea turtle nest and the anticipation of the "boil"--when the eggs hatch and exit the sand to make their run for the ocean, and the ghost boy in Grief Cottage.

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His attempts to court the ghost boy are not always successful, but his curiosity increases:

"I wished I knew if he could think about me when I was not there, as I was thinking about him. I didn't know whether ghosts could keep track of what was going on in the living world, imagine what could be happening, or be likely to happen, by comparing with what had gone before. Or were they like animals in not being able to project or imagine the future?
It struck me that he might need me to keep faith that he was still there."

I imagine that this novel will be one of my year's favorites. Highly recommended!

From Description: Grief Cottage is the best sort of ghost story, but it is far more than that--an investigation of grief, remorse, and the memories that haunt us. The power and beauty of this artful novel wash over the reader like the waves on a South Carolina beach.

Read in January; blog post scheduled for May 15

NetGalley/Bloomsbury

Literary Fiction/Ghost Story. June 6, 2017. Print length: 336 pages.