First published 2017
Madeleine Blais chronicles four decades at a dilapidated vacation house her in-laws bought on Martha's Vineyard in the 1970s for $80,000. The structure barely qualified as shelter. It lacked electricity and proper plumbing. Mice nested in the walls and rain leaked through the roof. Yet the location proved magical. The house sat beside Tisbury Great Pond, facing the ocean, surrounded by waters rich with oysters and crab. The family embraced the primitive conditions. They cooked meals over open flames, spent endless hours on the beach, and talked late into starlit nights. No heat, television, or telephone interrupted their retreat from modern life. Blais weaves together the island's history, its famous visitors, the ferry rides, local pie shops, and natural splendor. She captures the quirky customs and enduring charms of Vineyard culture. The house anchored her family's most treasured memories across generations. Children arrived and matured there. Loved ones aged and died while the house remained constant. When the family finally sold in 2014, they lost more than property. They surrendered the place that had measured time's passage and held their deepest connections.
Genres: family, family-life, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century, americana
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, nostalgia
Setting: Martha's Vineyard, Tisbury Great Pond
Period: 1970s
272 pages · Hardcover · Atlantic Monthly Press