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The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers (And Their Muses)

A Novel

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

A whimsical, moving novel about a retirement home for literary legends who spar, conjure up new stories, and almost magically change the lives of the people around them.

Alfonse Carducci was a literary giant who lived his life to excess—lovers, alcohol, parties, and literary rivalries. But now he's come to the Bar Harbor Home for the Elderly to spend the remainder of his days among kindred spirits: the publishing industry's nearly gone but never forgotten greats. Only now, at the end of his life, does he comprehend the price of appeasing every desire, and the consequences of forsaking love to pursue greatness. For Alfonse has an unshakeable case of writer's block that distresses him much more than his precarious health.

Set on the water in one of New England's most beautiful locales, the Bar Harbor Home was established specifically for elderly writers needing a place to live out their golden years—or final days—in understated luxury and surrounded by congenial literary company. A faithful staff of nurses and orderlies surround the writers, and are drawn into their orbit, as they are forced to reckon with their own life stories. Among them are Cecibel Bringer, a young woman who knows first-hand the cost of chasing excess. A terrible accident destroyed her face and her sister in a split-second decision that Cecibel can never forgive, though she has tried to forget. Living quietly as an orderly, refusing to risk again the cost of love, Cecibel never anticipated the impact of meeting her favorite writer, Alfonse Carducci—or the effect he would have on her existence. In Cecibel, Alfonse finds a muse who returns him to the passion he thought he lost. As the words flow from him, weaving a tale taken up by the other residents of the Pen, Cecibel is reawakened to the idea of love and forgiveness.

As the edges between story and reality blur, a world within a world is created. It's a place where the old are made young, the damaged are made whole, and anything is possible....

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    • Booklist

      May 15, 2018
      The newest resident at the Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers is Alfonse Carducci, now nearly 80 and seriously ill. He joins other literary figures there, including novelist Olivia Peppernell, with whom he once had an affair. He also finds himself inspired by one of the staff, Cecibel, whose disfigurement in an accident years before makes her wary and withdrawn. He shares the first pages of a new novel with Olivia, then they begin to collaborate, taking turns writing a chapter a week. Soon other residents join in to craft a tale about star-crossed lovers in Paterson, New Jersey, in the 1950s, which unfolds in chapters alternating with the main narrative. The novel-within-a-novel is rather pedestrian, but the point is for the writers to rediscover the sheer joy of writing. A third narrative thread follows Cecibel as she confronts her past and opens herself up to love. With so many strands, the novel feels unfocused, but intriguing characters help keep the reader engaged.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

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Languages

  • English

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