Nicola Harrison’s debut novel is one not to be missed.
Such an amazing story of Montauk in the early years of its development and the beautiful , rich people who traveled there to “ Summer “
Beatrice is stunned when her husband Harry , one of Manhattans elite , informs her that she and much of their social circle will be “ Summering “ in Montauk as the husbands remain in the city and travel out for weekends.
Beatrice falls in love with the beauty of Montauk and its people, it’s real people not her social circle , with whom she is finally seeing them for who they are .
I loved this book, the characters and the story! The author has done a great job with the characters, the time period and the beauty of her writing had me sunning myself and smelling the salt air !

Montauk by Nicola Harrison
Have visited the area in the 80's to see a lyme disease doctor so didn't spend a lot of time there but holds special memories for us.
Book starts out with driving the roads along the water edge, many of the cottages are magnificant.
The couple has had other friends who've stayed in the area in the summer and the inn has lots of events planned.
Beatrice and Harry had planned this trip for a while. He is a Bordeaux and he has to provide for her. He will work and live in the city and come down on weekends to spend with her.
Sounds like a fun outdoorsy place, just what we'd be looking for...they are bypassing Providence and Newport-places we live very close to to stay at Montauk.
Beatirce is left behind as her spouse heads back to the city-he doesn't come back every weekened. She takes excsion with Dolly to her hat shop in the city and she knows when she walks into her apartment what's happened there...
Over time she devotes her life to the true islanders and finds a special friend. Towards the end of the summer seaon she's notified she's pregnant...Harry thinks it's his...
Knowing the date I had not expected what happens next but won't spoil it for others-we also experienced it in RI-up the coast from this location-out of the blue, so devastating.
She has plans for her life but this event may have changed her mind. Lot of characters but easy to keep track of them all and there's a lot of drama from all angles.
Love the parts where she's able to help the islanders and charity work. Love how she stands up to Harry...
Enjoyed the read and especially the location and hearing of the locals and their life.
Received this review copy from a publicist via St. Martin's Press from NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.
#NetGalley

I received this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. Although the premise of this book sounded interesting, I had a hard time reading it. The characters didn't click for me, especially the main character, Beatrice, who basically gets stranded on Montauk while her husband Harry spends his time in the city and has an affair. I felt like the story stalled in the middle of the book and just didn't keep my interest.

This is an absolutely stunning book from Nicola Harrison, I loved it from start to finish. The author has a beautiful style of writing that permeates throughout the novel. The plot moves steadily, always maintaining the interest of the reader. I look forward to reading from from the author in the future.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC.

Thank you to netgalley.com for this ARC in exchange for a book review.

I was intrigued by the description of this book because I have been to Montauk in the summer and also enjoy reading about the days past of places I know of.

This book takes places in the beginning of Montauk as a vacation area in the late 1930's. I loved reading about the clothes, the parties, and events. Intertwined is a love story as well as some descriptions of women's rights in that time period.

As I was reading, I just wanted to be there in person and be part of the story or at least be able to see the scenery because it sounded so nice.

I wasn't too thrilled with the ending (but think that's just me), but didn't let it ruin what was a great and enjoyable book.

American author F. Scott Fitzgerald gave us a cast of characters living in the fictional towns of West Egg and East Egg on prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922. The Great Gatsby, acclaimed by many as “The Great American Novel” still resonates with its themes of decadence, idealism, resistance to change, social upheaval, and excess, creating a portrait of the American Dream, circa the Roaring Twenties.

Debut author Nicola Harrison presents a fresh version of these themes and high society life on Long Island. The year is 1938 and the town is Montauk, a sleeping fishing town awakening to its potential as a playground for the wealthy. Life after the 1920’s was hard because of the Depression, but the socialites of 1938 are feeling optimistic as they begin their summer season at a new hotel. Like many other couples, Beatrice has come with her husband of five years, Harry Bordeaux, from Manhattan to Montauk. He assures her that this will be a time for them to reconnect.

But Harry, like the other husbands, leaves his wife and takes the train back Manhattan. The men will return to play in Montauk every weekend. During the week, Beatrice must make her own way in the hierarchy of women- dealing with committees, teas, galas, tennis lessons and cocktails on the beach. She makes friends with the modern and level-headed Dolly. Beatrice wants to be a good and loyal wife and support her husband, but the empty society life makes her feel detached and restless. She is drawn to the more down-to-earth working class townspeople, yet she doesn’t fit in with that world either.

As she and Harry continue to drift apart she learns about the unsavory side of him. For Beatrice the striving world of Manhattan, with its greed, and social climbing, its teaming crowded streets, contrasts with the natural beauty and freshness of Montauk and the simple qualities and strength of the townspeople.

The author has given us a haunting, evocative story propelled by deep and well-developed characters. We see Beatrice faced with the monotony of the summer and we feel her weariness as she struggles through the slowing-moving days, filled with trivial activities. We can sense the heat, and hear the ocean as Beatrice seeks to respond to her awakening desire for love. Her sunny and vibrant days getting to know a lighthouse-keeper contrast with the closed-in darkness and tension of dinners and parties with her unstable husband. A massive storm at the end of the season leads to a troubling, yet fitting conclusion. This women’s fiction, with its literary quality, is well-written and will appeal to many readers who want a meaningful book to read. Recommend

Thanks to St. martin’s Press and NetGalley. I received a digital review copy from St. Martin’s Press via Net Gallery. This is my honest review.

Absolutely scandalous summer in Montauk. This book has it all sex scandal money alcohol marriage indiscretion. NYC wealthy summer on Montauk the locals provide for every whim of the rich and spoiled. But here we take a look into the lives of the rich and spoiled and not everything is as it appears. There is a lot of ro,e playing happening.

3.5 stars

Montauk 1938: This was a bit of a slow burn read about a young wife, Beatrice, childless after 5 years of marriage and taking a break from New York City to summer in Montauk. While her distracted husband, Harry, is busy with his investment career in the city, Beatrice begins to wonder what type of future she can expect. Bored with the trivial pursuits of the other summer people, Beatrice finds herself becoming more and more interested in the lives of Montauk's locals. When a journalist approaches Beatrice to consider writing a column about the comings and goings of the high society, she embarks on a journey that just might rock more than the magazine's readership.

Despite the fact that I knew exactly which road this story was going to eventually lead the main character, I did feel that Nicola Harrison managed to recreate late 1930's America and all the prejudices that existed between people of different social classes. Beatrice's plight that she will never measure up to the other women of her class, the anti-Semitism targeted at a character, the fear of another world war looming, and the lack of freedom that women held in their marriage all created an engaging plot.

I did have to remind myself that Beatrice was a woman who as Nicola Harrison relates in her back story was a woman of her time. So sometimes when she acted with naivete, I had to push down my 21st century impatience. Thank goodness for characters like Elizabeth and Dolly that played the role of reasoning.


I would be very interested in reading more of this author in the future.

Goodreads review published 23/02/ 19
Expected publication 04/06/19

Montauk, 1938. Beatrice Bordeaux is looking forward to spending the summer outside of the city with her husband, Harry, hoping that three months away will be just what the doctor ordered in order to ignite the fire in their marriage, and hopefully, bring a baby into the picture. It's true what people say, though, about making plans and God laughing, because predictably, that's not what happens to Beatrice in their summer. Instead, she'll spend twelve weeks with the other wives while Harry pursues other interests. With a lot of time on her hands, Beatrice begins to pursue other interests as well.

Let me just say I love Montauk so much, so so much. Harrison's debut novel was a good beach read and made me yearn for summer, but overall, I wasn't excited by it. I found Beatrice to be largely insufferable, always intent on doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing, something she was advised against, and could get other people in serious trouble. She didn't seem like she had a head for consequences for other people. Like, she was the temporary visitor but other people lived in Montauk year-round. There was also an overall predictability to the novel, even towards things moved toward the end. One thing I found upsetting was that there's a violent act toward the latter half of the book AND IT'S GLOSSED OVER. I'm so tired of violence toward women being included in the book and for what largely seemed like no purpose.

Quick read on a cold snowy day. Not impressed with this, would not recommend. Thought it was silly and predictable.

Montauk is a slow, ponderous read. At first the sTory is quite dull. It's about bored rich society women who are parked at a smal seaside resort for the summer by their philandering husbands. The story moves at a snail's pace. About midway, Beatrice, after discovering the duplicity of her husband, meets the lighthouse keeper and sparks fly. From there the plot is fairly predictable. The ending is just too convenient and it was as if the author was tired of the story and wanted a quick wrap. The only two characters who added any depth to the story were Dolly and Elizabeth.

I found this slow and the characters unlike able, but the historical aspects were interesting and the writing just fine. This could be just me finding little to identify with. I would give another book by this author a read.

A season in Montauk with an array of characters that will keep you engulfed in their personal lives. A very warm and enlightening novel that has so many twists and turns. A definite read!

A masterpiece! A book of sheer beauty and delight. Extremely visual and mesmerizing. This is a book to sit down and get lost in. A book written so beautifully that I felt like I was there in Montauk.

This book deserves and award. The raw emotion and sheer beauty of how this book was written is something that should be loved, cherished and breathed in. Horray for Montauk!!

Thank you NetGalley for my free e-copy of Montauk by Nicola Harrison!

It's 1938 and the wealthy citizens of New York come out to Long Island, Montauk to be precise, for a fun/sun filled summer. For 12 weeks they are staying at a 200 room resort where they will be indulged, where they will play and get away from the hustle and bustle of the big city. Once a small fishing village, now a playground for the "rich and famous." However, not everyone is overly excited about the prospect of a 12 week vacation, especially those whose husbands will only be coming up for weekends.

A lower to middle class college educated wife, a wealthy husband and a marriage falling apart. Such is the life of Beatrice Bordeaux, whose husband Harry will be among the weekenders. She will be staying by herself at The Montauk Manor, summer residence of society wives...she is not happy that he won't be with her for the summer. Added to her disappointment, after being married for 5 years, she struggles and longs to have a baby. As for Harry, he is installing Beatrice there, encouraging her to make friends with these women to help further his interest and investment in the resort. How does she feel about this, is she comfortable to be away from her husband and only see him on weekends? You don't have to wait long to feel the tension between the couple...right out of the gate you can feel it. How does Beatrice handle her summer, how does she feel in a social setting that she is neither comfortable with or accustomed to? More than anything, she is clearly out of her element.

Historically speaking, it is interesting to get a glimpse of the 30's, with its different set of conventions, the social differences between the classes. Well written and quite enjoyable, this debut novel is one I would recommend.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Montauk is my first introduction to Nicola Harrison's books. I thought this book was great. I am giving it a well deserved five plus stars.

While I didn't necessarily love the plot/storyline of the story, I did really enjoy the imagery. I want a summer by the sea in Montauk and fans of that area of the country will feel the same way.

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for the chance to read and review this book. This is a very good debut novel! Beatrice Bordeaux goes to vacation for 12 week on Montauk. She is not all that excited about it, but her jet setter husband Harry tells her to go. Beatrice is a little different from all the gossipy, rich women and doesn't seem to really fit in. This is the story of how Beatrice finds herself and reaches out for what she really wants in life. I can't wait for the next story by this author!

This book was just okay for me. Kind of predictable. Wasn't awful, but not at all memorable. It was kind of interesting seeing how the upper class people wets to the lower. Obviously liked the main character cause she was different.

Nicola Harrison delivers a beautifully enriched historical fiction novel with aspects of romance.

The story takes place in 1938 on a beautiful island and we all step into a time period wrapped in male/female societal roles and norms.

I am always hesitant to read historical novels because they're not me favorite genre but I was so impressed with Nicola Harrison's debut. She truly has a way with her words and writing style!

I think alone I would read another book by her because I was truly so enamored with her writing!!

I was fascinated with the characters and how much the societal norms were ingrained in so many individuals back then.

I really liked the romance act to it as well..... if you're not a romance person than I may say this isn't for you?

My only minor issue with this one was it was a tad long for me a very slow slow burn. I was loving her writing but wanted something to pick up in the beginning.

Overall, this was an enjoyable and beautiful read.

3.75 stars rounded up!


Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Published to Goodreads: 2/8/19
Publication date: 6/4/19