ISBN-13: 9780578131740 / Angielski / Miękka / 2016 / 196 str.
In this book you will travel to a northern Michigan town that is still charming and rustic, and brilliantly captures lives that have been marked by struggles, suffering, loss, perseverance, an abiding faith and the love of friends and family as it sojourns between sentiment and satire. You will hear an unaccustomed rhythm in the voices of the Whispering Pines Inn as it is recounted here in loving detail. Cynthia Williams delivers an unforgettable story about an unforgettable boy and girl coming of age pre-World War II America and East Jordan Michigan along the shores of Lake Charlevoix and Lake Michigan. It's 1963 now, and Maggie inherits the breathtakingly beautiful but run down Inn. Cynthia Williams gives her readers, and her characters, precisely what they crave--excitement, insight, joy, humor, hard reality, surprise, loyalty, hope and a sweet but uncompromising view of human nature. Passionate long-lost loves, war, the charms of Mackinac and Beaver Island, a dark and tawdry gypsy con artist with underhanded ways, Louie's Golf Club Caper involving college students lamenting their lack of funds for extracurricular late night activities and poor, gullible Louie whose fortitude teaches them the sobering aspects of young adulthood, a high-spirited and jaw-dropping 4th of July parade, no questions asked smelt dipping, classic cars, uplifting fishing folklore, a tormented chef, sensational escapades at a Venetian Festival, quirky guests and locals with complicated but redeemable characters and Maggie and Burt, who stand in the center of it all. In Maggie and Burt we recognize the best and hardest aspects of youth, the fascination and fear of unrequited love, and our own first loves. The author leads her heroine and hero into adulthood while inspiring readers with deeply moving history, geography, plot twists and entertaining characters in a fantastically imagined world. A comparable book is Empire Falls by Richard Russo.