First published 1997
Molly Bell Redwine has always believed family comes first. Her mother drilled this lesson into her from childhood, and Molly built her entire identity around it. Then everything falls apart at once. Her husband of over twenty years abandons her for someone younger. Her controlling mother dies. Her Atlanta family disperses completely. Molly finds herself completely alone for the first time in her life. She flees to Martha's Vineyard, staying with a friend while she tries to make sense of what remains. When summer ends, Molly makes a radical choice. She rents a tiny cottage beside a remote pond in the up island area and decides to stay through the harsh New England winter. Cut off from everything she once knew in Atlanta, Molly slowly sheds her old beliefs about what family means. She begins forming unexpected connections with the island's year-round residents. As winter deepens around her isolated cottage, Molly faces the difficult work of discovering who she really is beneath all the roles she used to play.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, second-chance
Setting: Atlanta, Martha's Vineyard
Period: Winter
342 pages · Hardcover · HarperCollins Publishers