Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's press for this ARC of Margreete's Harbor. This is a lovely book, and one that I savored for a long time. I have not read any of Eleanor Morse's previous books, but I plan to. Her writing reminds me of Ann Tyler and her characters could be friends with Olive Kitteridge. High praise!
This is a very sensory novel. We not only see Burnt Hafbor, but we smell it and hear it, and through the very real observations of the characters, we feel it. The author did a masterful job of invoking memories of growing uo in the 60's. The commercials on TV, the fish sticks for dinner, the attitudes of teachers and the clothing and music. Spot on!
The book is long and has the appeal of an epic. We follow the lives of Margreete and her family as they live life and face issues eerily similar to some we are facing now. The author as observer guides us calmly alongside this family and their jobs, passions, failures and joy.
It is my hope that this beautiful book will receive the success it deserves. Highly recommended.

Loved this book about the struggles and times of this family in this small town . It was a good character driven story that I enjoyed
Thanks go Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book

An absorbing story of a family’s progress through, struggle with, and coming to terms with the ‘50s and ‘60s. I enjoyed the story unfolding through the thoughts of the family members, each with their own dilemmas and trails.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I want to thank NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for my e-copy of Margreet’s Harbor by Eleanor Morse to read and review.
“Life isn’t simple, no matter where you are”. It’s 1955.
Margreet is suffering from dementia while living alone in her home on the shore in Maine. She refuses to leave so her daughter and her family move there!
So many different topics make up this novel. They include Margreet’s memory issues as well as sexual orientation and abuse, racial discrimination, Martin Luther King’s murder, and burning of draft cards and conscientious objectors during the Korean War.
The characters are all so well developed. You have to love Margreet who almost burns down the house and moves from one bed to another during the night. My other favorites are Gretchen and Fred.
You want to be able to tell the family to listen to each other!
Margreet’s Harbor publishes April 20,2021.

A lovely synopsis that left me looking forward to easing through at a slower pace; unfortunately it was perhaps too slow for me. I never really felt interested in the story. I've been in a reading slump but this didn't pull me out of it.

It's 1955 and a small fire starts in Margreets kitchen. Margreet has a daughter Liddie. Margreet meets a nice electrician and talks about her daughter

Travel to Burnt Harbor - tiniest eyelash compared to great eye of ocean.
There is no library, laundromat, movie theater, bar, hardware tore, bowling alley.
They have one church, one cafe, one gas/grocery store, one inn, and one bookstore.
As families move in together, lessons need to be learned.
Sharing a home requires changes and compromise.

I enjoyed beginning, felt like I was there
then I got lost and could not follow characters stories.

This is a interesting story about a family facing challenges and struggles.
The time frame is the 1950/ 1960 era.
The story is about Margreete who is showing signs of dementia. Because of this, her daughter decides to uproot her husband and two children from Michigan to move to Maine so they can take care of her mother.
As I read on, I kept hoping to become more engaged with the story but it was a bit of a struggle.
Thank you to NetGallery, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read and give my honest review about this book.

Much like another reviewer, to me this book was lengthy, uneventful, and sad. I kept hoping something would happen that would keep me interested, but it was like waiting for nothing. No one was happy or found happiness.

I was provided with an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this story of a family who had their problems and challenges, but persevered to keep themselves together. Well written with stong, realistic characters.

I received a complimentary copy of Margareete's Harbor from NetGalley.

This novel was kind of lengthy and uneventful. I kept with it because I was thinking something exciting was going to happen, but it never really materialized, There really seemed to be no climax to the storyline: the plot just sort of followed several (almost clinically depressed) family members. None of them could find happiness. It was sad, really.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

A mainly sad story about a family in the 1950s and 60s. So many issues. I liked it, but I'd like to know what happens next. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

Margreete lives alone on Burnt Harbor, Maine. Dementia is slowly taking away Margreete’s ability to care for herself and a fire nearly destroys her home. Her daughter Liddie, son-in-law Harry and their children live in Michigan. They decide to relocate to Maine to live with Margreete in order to keep her safe. This story could be one of hundreds of thousands of average families throughout the 1950s and 60s. The Kennedy assassination, Vietnam war and Civil Rights movement are changing the world. As each family member matures and values evolve their individual perspective influences the decisions made and the direction that each of their lives take.

I couldn't stop reading MARGREETE'S HARBOR and will read it again. Margreete's daughter, Liddie, and her family move from Michigan to Margreete's isolated house in Maine near the ocean to live with her after Margreete forgets that she has bacon on the stove, sets the kitchen on fire and almost burns the house down. Because Margreete cannot safely live on her own and refuses to move to Michigan or into a facility, Liddie's family live with her and weather the 1950s and 1960s together.

This is not an easy book to read but worth the effort. It is a wonderful depiction of a family grappling with the present and the past as every family must. There are wonderful moments of revelation, self realization and sorrow. Harry’s remark while shaving that when he looks in the mirror he is always surprised at how old he has become is something I do all the time... poignant and sad at the same time. The time line spans the years of integration and the Vietnam Nam war and I was surprised to learn many facts I never knew. Reading about the dementia and it’s effects on the family as well as the grandmother was painful and heart wrenching. I have several friends suffering now and I find the loss of memory particularly tragic. The author has managed to depict a wonderful family with its strengths and weaknesses on full display... strong and weak, sustaining and dissembling, surviving and loving. Certainly not perfect and yet somehow as perfect as a family could ever be. I would like to know , however, what the Morse Code message meant.

Margreete’s Harbor is a tender story of Margreete’s daughter and family trying to balance their lives with their children, while Margreete is slowly losing her grasp on reality.
Eleanor Morse drew me into the story and kept me enthralled and pulling for this family to the end of the book.
This would make a great Lifetime Movie!

This novel is a beautifully written window into the lives of a young family in 1960s Maine. As the family struggles though issues such as infidelity, death, and sexual orientation, we are given a front row seat.
The author takes us into the minds of multiple characters, allowing us to witness life from multiple points of view, and experiencing what often end up being secrets hidden from the rest of the family.

Liddie uproots her family from Michigan to move in with her mother, Margeete on the Maine coast after the older woman nearly burns her home down after leaving a pan on the stove. What follows are the next ten years in the lives of the family from the 1950’s into the 60’s detailing Liddie’s efforts to find time and space for herself, the family’s struggle with the conflict in Vietnam and Margeete’s more and more frequent forays into the past. This is a beautifully told story of a family, in large moments and small, and the sacrifices they make for each other

This is another book I didn't want to end! Several of the characters had such complex inner lives that everyday life was sometimes a challenge for them; I can fully identify with that. Margreete reminded me of my mother - both knew her mind was losing bits and pieces every day yet they were determined and stubborn and insisted on living their life on their terms until death arrived. Margreete was probably my favorite character (and the family dog), then Liddie and Bernie. It was remarkable how the author was able to craft personal and interpersonal growth for each of the characters without stepping away from the story line; this couldn't have been easy to achieve. This one will definitely remain with me several more days, requiring rereading of some passages.

This is a beautifully crafted family drama that takes us back to America in the 50s and 60s. The catalyst is the growing senile behavior or Liddie’s mother, Margreete. Her deterioration brings Liddie and her family back to Maine from Michigan. This move sets the stage for the family saga, as it demonstrates the family values and trials of that time.

The children, Bernie, Eva and Gretchen are emblematic of this period of growing change and unrest. The family is influenced by the values of father, Harry and his social activism. I found this novel very authentic and reminiscent of the roots of protest and activism that are so timely now.

The only criticism of the book is that it left me wanting more! It is rare to feel such an attachment to characters that I’m hopeful that Morse will write another book that follows Liddie’s children into adulthood. Perhaps a trilogy? The characters are so well-drawn that I felt that I was part of their issues. Morse has captured the cultural birth of so many movements that are very timely today. I can think of dozens of questions for discussion with book groups. Personally, I can’t wait to engage in discourse and debate about the ongoing societal issues.

I highly recommend this novel, for its engaging writing and its incorporation of social history.

Thank you Netgalley for this extraordinary opportunity to read what I believe will be a BEST NOVEL of 2021.