The book’s structure – a series of interconnected stories set in a fictional coastal town in Maine – will no doubt provoke comparisons with Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge and Olive, Again. However, the stories that make up The Northern Reach stretch over a period of time – from 1904 to 2017 – and follow the lives of members of four families whose fortunes intermingle over the generations. There are a lot of characters to keep track of but, thankfully, the author has provided a series of family trees which I certainly found myself referring to frequently.

The Northern Reach encompasses tragedy, loss, family breakdown and infidelity but also includes welcome moments of humour. I particularly liked the story ‘Striptease’, which although it has an undercurrent of sadness, describes a joyful daytrip in which a woman throws caution – along with a few other things – to the wind.

Although many of the characters are not particularly likeable, the author has a keen eye for how people behave and react to others. For example, in the chapter entitled ‘Starvation Diet’ set in 1966, Liliane, born in France, encounters snobbery from her husband’s relatives and their neighbours. At a “pot luck”, which she learns is nothing at all like a dinner party, she endures rather unsubtle put-downs from her mother-in-law, including deliberately mispronouncing Liliane’s name and comments about “fancy food”.

In ‘Planting Tiger’, Victoria is forced to return to Wellbridge for the funeral of her father, known to all as ‘Tiger’. It’s a town, and a past, she has done her best to leave behind. “Victoria picked her way through the clots of gossiping biddies, low-slung keg bellies, and blondes who could only be Tiger’s ex-wives or girlfriends.” Ashamed of her family for reasons which will become apparent, she is dismayed at the unexpected arrival of her fiancé, Tino, especially when her mother, Jessie, turns up and introduces herself to him. Mishearing his name, Jessie wonders “what kind of parents named their kid after a member of the Jackson 5, and not even the famous one“.

‘Requiem (For The Unburied)’ set in 2017, recalls the event to which Edith Baines’ memory repeatedly returns in the opening chapter of the book, but also involves a more recent tragedy reaching well beyond the confines of Wellbridge. I can’t finish this review without mentioning the beautiful descriptions of the coastal scenery which is the backdrop to events in the lives of so many of the characters. ‘The slate-blue bay shudders beneath a gusting wind, foamy whitecaps breaking here and there. The high tide has just started to turn, and in a few hours, the waterline will have retreated twenty feet from where it is now, leaving behind a wet moonscape of barnacle-crusted boulders, mounds of ochre seaweed, and even the odd starfish…’.

I really enjoyed the beautiful writing and the varied characters brought to life in The Northern Reach. I thought it was an impressive debut and I’d be keen to read whatever the author comes up with next.

“It occurs to her that no one knows what anybody thinks. It’s the lies that hold people together, she believes, the things we never say, the false faces that mask ugly truths.”

THE NORTHERN REACH is a novel about family ties, a sense of belonging, and what we choose to keep secret. each chapter focuses on the story of a different person, but all of the chapters are tied together by the secrets, lies, and prejudices of the small coastal town of Wellbridge, Maine. it’s well-written, and I enjoyed this one! I really connected with several of the chapters and characters in particular, but I really enjoyed the comprehensive look at a small town with a cast of colorful characters.

Wellbridge, Maine, the story starts in the early 1900s, where a woman is grieving the loss of her husband and eldest son, to the sea. In these interconnected stories we follow the lives of four families from different social and economic spheres. Their griefs, small snippets of joy, watch as the connect with each other, intermarry and try to wrench a life from what they are given. Lives lived, lives lost, some move away, many return and others stay, accepting a fate that seems impossible to overcome.

This is a first novel, and a well done one. The setting of this rugged place is beautifully described, the wildlife, the fauna, the sea, all make this setting come to life. The tone is melancholy, which actually fits my mood lately, but there are small glimpses of humor and small bits of joy.

Many characters, but my copy had family trees at the beginning and several of the chapters had a character from a previous chapter, so these were easier to place. As with most books with multiple characters I had my favorites. The story of Lilianne and George and the story of Alice. Alice's story affected me the most emotionally and one that has stayed with me.

My monthly read with Angela and Lise. I love the books and conversations that go with these reads.

ARC from Edelweiss.

Winslow's The Northern Reach is a beautifully written story of love and loss. It's told in a series of collected stories from many different characters. Set in a coastal town in Maine in the early 1900's, the book will make your heart ache with longing and sadness.

Thank you to Flatiron Books and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Northern Reach is set in Maine. This is an integral part of the story because even though the characters change from chapter to chapter, the setting remains the same. This book spans from 1904 until 2017. It follows the lives of family members over the years, detailing their joys, sorrows, successes and failures. The story focuses primarily on three families and blends with others throughout the years.

The descriptive elements of this book were well done. The setting and characters were realistic and detailed. Unfortunately, the book felt a little disjointed to me. I believe that the point was to demonstrate how the families changed and evolved from year to year, all while they lived in Maine. It just didn't quite work for me. I felt that some of the chapters didn't connect with others. The overall book lacked a sense of cohesion in my opinion. That said, I did enjoy some things about the author's writing style and would be open to reading other works in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

I got to about the halfway point of this book, and that’s where I gave up.

The writing itself is engaging and enjoyable.

The story, which covers an expansive amount of time, didn’t work for me at all. Nothing is in chronological order, leaving us to piece together a timeline of events from the fragments of various chapters presented all out of order.

We’re given family trees at the start of each chapter to help us keep track of the vast number of characters and their connections to one another over the generations. This works okay in print, where you can flip pages back and forth for reference, but not so much in ebook format. No one or two characters stand out. Instead, each makes an appearance, tells their story, and we move on. We meet and get the perspectives of every single person in this remote area of Maine. None are particularly likable or memorable.

And, finally, there is no plot to speak of. Nothing really happens, aside from the personal misery each of the characters are drowning in.

The tone is utterly depressing, and keeping track of everyone’s connections was giving me a headache, so I gave up.

But this is just my opinion. You might love the story, so please do give it a try if the premise intrigues you.

I received a free electronic ARC of this debut historical novel from Netgalley, W.S.Winslow, and Flatiron Books. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. Winslow is an author I am pleased to recommend to friends and family. She is a novelist I will enjoy watching grow.

We follow four families through several generations, families isolated much of the year by weather, residing in a very small, insular fishing village on the Atlantic coast in Maine. Weather is one of the main characters of this novel. And she is a witch. Within pages, I was lost in this story, and it ended much more quickly than I wanted. Like all families, we have the good and bad, strong and weak, invested and soon-to-be-gone in our character lineup. Those who relish the challenges of living in a place with 9 months of deep freeze, very limited places offering employment of any kind, and the majority of families involved in a weakening fishing vocation. It takes a certain make of human to rise to this sort of challenge. I love my desert southwest, but I would not last a week in Maine. It's a really nice place to visit, however. Remotely, if possible. Watching these folks handle the ups and downs of this life is most interesting, and Ms. Winslow paints a compelling picture of both the place and the souls that relish this life.

Reading W.S. Winslow’s The Northern Reach is like stepping into a black and white photograph featuring the work and family life in 20th century Maine. Industrial hard work
In a collection of vignettes about four families over the course of a century, the author chooses specific moments in the characters’ lives to illustrate entire lifetimes, introducing the reader to the characters' dark moments and their glory-filled memories. It was a fascinating read almost like a short story collection but anchored by place and the familial connection.

Winslow’s writing is a fantastic read engaging all senses, you can see, taste, feel, hear and smell the scenes, she knows how to use words to convey every sense or emotion and it’s a revelation in character development.

I can’t stop thinking about this novel, its characters, and their lives. They are haunting. So much gin and so many cigarettes, happiness seems fleeting. Winslow’s characters reveal a level of intimacy with the reader that is hard to attain.
This is a great read,

I received a free ARC through NetGalley and Flatiron books in exchange for an honest review.

I had such high hopes going into this book. As someone who is very familiar with coastal Maine the setting seamiest like the perfect winter read to invoke feelings of summer. Intergenerational story lines usually appeal to me too, so The Northern Reach sounded like the perfect set up for a great story. Unfortunately I had to DNF this one - thank you NetGalley and Flatiron Books for allowing me access to this eARC.

The prose is detailed and at times a bit distracting but I did appreciate some of it because it really allowed me to envision the setting. Additionally, the first chapter included too many religious references for my personal taste.

At the end of the day, from what I can tell this book definitely will appeal to some audiences. However, as a young 30-something I struggled to connect and feel that an older audience may have an easier time engaging with the story.

I know not every book is for every person and I feel bad only giving one star and DNFIng as I know authors put a lot of time, thought, energy, etc into their book and they are proud of their work. With that said, I wish the author nothing but success with their debut novel The Northern Reach.

As someone who enjoys multi-generational novels, I was looking forward to reading this book detailing the lives of families in a small coastal town on Maine’s Northern Reach. I read the first chapter enjoying the writer’s vivid descriptions of Wellbridge, Maine, and the women grieving the unexpected deaths of two family members. Winslow’s word pictures made it easy to envision the characters in the setting, and I eagerly anticipated learning more about this family and its common acquaintances.

Unfortunately, the depictions grew less interesting as the book went on. The descriptive prose was still wonderful, but the plot and characterizations were not. There was little character development as the characters in each chapter made the same mistakes as those before. Winslow offered little insight after presenting each scenario, with major events sprouting from previous stories thrown in as a casual aside. We meet characters, we see short snippets of their lives, and then abruptly change to a different family and different generations.

Winslow’s descriptions of people and places left me eager for more but left hanging in the breeze more often than not. I hope that in future works the author will continue to create interesting characters and develop them in a way that lets the reader become fully engaged in their circumstances.

Thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for providing me an advanced review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. This is probably the best book I've read all year! These interrelated stories are so compelling and I was so incredibly invested. A family tree would be helpful is my only complaint. I highly highly recommend this book!

I wouldn't really call this a novel so much as a series of interrelated stories. The stories are set in Maine and span from early 20th century to 2017. They focus on a series of character related by blood or marriage. This is an impressive first work of fiction. I did not love every story and I found them a bit uneven in tone -- most were dark and melancholy whereas a couple aimed at humour but felt a bit like caricatures. But a few stories knocked my socks off so I am forgiving of the inconsistencies. To my surprise, one of my favourites featured a ghost -- what if you died and were able to hear your adult children's reactions and musings about your life... I will definitely look for Winslow's next fictional work. This was a buddy read with Angela and Diane, and, as usual, so nice to read with them. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me access to an advance copy.

Wellbridge, Maine, is not what most mean when they think of a coastal town. This is no hot in the sun, fun-filled, commercial strip where fun and romance is uppermost. This is a small fishing village in a cold climate, a hardscrabble environment where livings must be clawed from the sea or those few tourists that end up here for a vacation.
As in most small places, there are several families that have been there forever and who will probably only disappear when their families die out, not because they moved elsewhere in search of a better life. There are the Baines, a fishing family whose future dies with a ship wreck that drowns most of the men in the family. The Moodys are considered white trash and are hard drinking poor people who aren't about to be told what to do by anything. The Edgecombs are farming folk although the land isn't exactly thriving.

Over the decades, these families intermarry, fight and join. They know each others' secrets going back for years and have ancient grudges. Occasionally one of the young people marry someone from somewhere else and bring in new blood but these newcomers are rarely welcomed. Their lot is to be at best tolerated as they are considered to be ignorant of the things that are needed to survive in this place. There are shipwrecks, illnesses, even a murder or two.

W.S. Winslow is a native Maine resident herself so she knows what she is writing about. This is her debut novel and the structure makes this novel interesting. It ties together the stories from the different families into a tapestry of survival in a bleak environment, of people doing whatever it takes to get by. This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.

Unfortunately this book did not work for me. This entire story is way out there and it goes in so many directions with so many stories in differnt timelines, I was completely lost. The first half deals with the Baines, thank heavens the family tree at the beginning of the chapters helped to keep track of the characters, I referenced them multiple times. Then about half way thru, the story takes a complete turn and is almost like the author changed.
I did find the best part of the book was Tigers funeral, it was so funny. Unfortunately that didn't last long and the rest of the story meandered about. Best I can do is 3 stars.

I received a copy of the book from Netgalley to review. Thank you for the opportunity.
A incredibly detailed and complex story that is crafted across many generations. The writing is very detailed, perhaps overly so at times. It is difficult to engage with the characters are the switch over quite often.
An OK read.

This novel takes place over the course of multiple generations and follows the lives and interactions of a few families. The book, though, shows the connections among the characters through work, inter-marriage, and church activities.

It was interesting to learn about the lives and struggles of families living in this area of Maine over a long period.

I would highly recommend this to people who enjoy books that span generations and time.

Some books are a hit or a miss. This was a miss for me and I didn’t get very far since I found the book to be boring. To me it felt like there was just too much going on and nothing I could follow and connect to. Something was just lacking for me with this one.

I do find I have very high standards though and for someone new to this genre and type of writing they may perhaps enjoy it.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

This novel follows the multi-generational inhabitants of a rural, coastal Maine community. The chapters cover time periods from the early 20th century to the modern day. Each chapter chronicles the lives and interactions of a few families and can almost be read as independent short stories. The book, though, shows the connections among the characters through work, inter-marriage, and church activities.

The family trees at the beginning of the book and before each chapter help the reader visualize the relationships and keep the characters straight.

It was interesting to learn about the lives and struggles of families living in this area of Maine over a long period.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Flatiron Press for the arc in exchange for my own opinions.

Some books are a hit or a miss. This was a miss for me. To me it felt like there was just to much going on and nothing I could really connect to. The writing seemed good, its just something was lacking for me with this one.

Sadly I dnf'd which I hate doing.

This book started off a bit slow and I wasn't sure if it would reel me in but about halfway through it really picked up and I loved the noir Maine aspect of the lives of the web of a family over the years. There are some very Olive Kitteridge moments and themes and if you enjoy that type of novel this will be right up your alley.