Portland Public Library

Enchanted August, Brenda Bowen

eng

no index present

fiction

Enchanted August

910858623

Brenda Bowen

Thorndike Press Large Print Women's Fiction

On a dreary spring day in Brooklyn, Lottie Wilkes and Rose Arbuthnot spot an ad on their children's preschool bulletin board: "Hopewell Cottage, Little Lost Island, Maine. Old, pretty cottage to rent on a small island. Springwater, blueberries, sea glass. August." Neither can afford it, but they are smitten -- Lottie could use a break from her overbearing husband and Rose from her relentless twins. On impulse, they decide to take the place and attract two others to share the steep rent: Caroline Dester, an indie movie star who's getting over a very public humiliation, and elderly Beverly Fisher, who's recovering from heartbreaking loss. If it's not a perfect quartet, surely it will be fine for a month in the country. When they arrive on the island, they are transformed by the salt air; the breathtaking views; the long, lazy days; and the happy routine of lobster, corn, and cocktails on the wraparound porch. By the time of the late -- August blue moon, real life and its complications have finally fallen far, far away. For on this idyllic island they gradually begin to open up: to one another and to the possibilities of lives quite different from the ones they've been leading. Change can't be that hard, can it?