First published 2006
Max Morden flees to the Irish seaside town of his childhood summers after his wife Anna dies. The middle-aged widower seeks refuge from his grief at a boarding house, but the location pulls him back into memories of the Grace family he encountered there as a boy. He recalls the seductive mother, the imperious father, and especially the twins Chloe and Myles, whose mysterious bond drew him in completely. Chloe was fiery and direct while Myles remained silent and unreadable. Max experienced his first taste of both love and death through his entanglement with this wealthy vacationing family. Now, as he navigates his present life with his adult daughter Claire, who tries desperately to lift him from his sorrow, and the other boarders around him, his memories of Anna interweave with those childhood experiences. The past pulses within him like a second heart as Max begins to understand how those early encounters shaped him forever.
Genres: literary-fiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, grief, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Ireland, Irish Seaside Town
Period: Childhood, Adulthood
Audio CD · Random House Audio
Content warnings: death