Margreete's Harbor

Reviews

Advance Praise for Margreete’s Harbor:

“I was held spellbound by the brilliance and beauty of Margreete's Harbor. The family, the children, the music, the pets, the senile grandmother, the idealistic father, still live in Maine, in my heart and mind, like all the very best novels we are given to treasure.” —Nancy Thayer, best-selling author of Girls of Summer

“Margreete’s Harbor is a novel that embraces your neighborhood, then the people who live on the other side of the world; then you. It cradles us all and shakes us awake. If you don’t want to feel your heart expand or to live a bit closer to your own bones, don’t read this book. If you want to feel more, to understand more than you felt and thought yesterday, start reading and don’t stop.” —Sena Jeter Naslund, best-selling author of Ahab’s Wife

“Margreete's Harbor breaks and mends the heart in the way of all great literature. It’s a collective story, roaring with love in the little moments. Profound revelations about relationships, emotions, and life in general. Descriptions of land, place, animals, and the natural world: some of the best I've ever read. The narrative moves with power, grace, and vivid music through history and the characters simultaneously--and differently. The people Morse writes are so real that I wouldn’t be surprised to meet them on the street.” —Neela Vaswani, author of Where the Long Grass Bends


"Eleanor Morse's Margreete's Harbor, a polyphonic novel in which each voice is earned yet blends seamlessly with the others, shines with its author's warmth, humanity, and intelligence: I'm a better person for having read it.” —Robin Lippincott, author of Our Arcadia

Booksellers are raving about Margreete's Harbor!

"I found Margreete’s Harbor to be a poignant look at our complicated relationships and lives as we seek to understand ourselves. I loved this book. I loved that while I was reading about a family in the 1960s, I could relate all the emotions and experiences with the current state of affairs in our country, as well as tie correlations with current life. From coming of age themes, to childcare and elder care, to marriage issues, coming out, political views and even #MeToo moments. Readers will connect with the characters in a way that inspires self-reflection as well as a look at our place in the world. Great storytelling!" —Ellen Speers, Titcomb’s Bookshop, East Sandwich, MA

"Eleanor Morse peers deeply into the most intimate and reflective parts of her characters with grace and wit. This real family and their friends are flawed in subtle, believable ways and we are wiser for being along on their journey. This is a tale seeped in music, the rocky island Maine coast, the joy of children and the complexities of adults." —Kira Wizner, Merritt Bookstore, Millbrook, NY

“Margreete's Harbor has truly captured my heart, and captivated me over the weekend. I fell in love with the characters, especially Margreete and Bernie, yet all the others too. The writing is exquisite with just the perfect placement of words on the page. . . The novel has a strong sense of place in Maine, so much so that you can almost smell the salty spray of the ocean, hear the stillness of the falling snowflakes in winter, or the smell of green grass and the sounds of peepers in the spring. Set against the backdrop of the 1950s and the Vietnam War gives it such a sense of time, you could almost feel like you were back living in those unsettling times. (I wasn't quite old enough but just.) I just swooned with some pages." —Annie Philbrick, Owner, Bank Square Books, Mystic, CT

“Margreete's Harbor by Eleanor Morse is a richly delineated family story set in coastal Maine from 1955 to the late sixties, showing the fullness of family life - love, responsibility, heartbreak, change, and hope. . . Morse's novel makes us aware of how both family and love bring us together and tear us apart. It is ultimately a story of hope, even if that hope is hard won." —Don Luckham, The Toadstool Bookshop, Keene, NH