The Summer Guest
(Libby/OverDrive eAudiobook)

Love, loss, and the magnetic power of place are themes evoked in this luminous novel from the PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author of Mary and O'Neil (2001). Diagnosed with terminal cancer, celebrated financier Harry Wainwright longs for one more visit to a beloved fishing camp in the remote reaches of Maine, to cast a flyline over water as still as God's held breath. Camp owner Joe Crosby, a Vietnam draft evader who inherited the property from his war-hero father, is honored to grant the wish of the kindly millionaire, who has been a summer visitor to the camp for more than 30 years. Arriving with his wife, son, and granddaughter in tow, the frail Wainwright makes a dramatic bequest that transforms a tranquil lakeside sojourn into a life-altering event. Narrated in alternating chapters by characters whose lives are inextricably linked to each other--and to the camp--Cronin's novel reveals the rugged beauty of his native New England and the tender terrain of the human heart. --Allison Block Copyright 2004 Booklist

A Maine fishing camp serves as the physical and emotional center for an extended circle of family and friends in this charming novel spanning three generations. On a single day in late summer, the rich financier Harry Wainwright, now dying of cancer, visits the camp he has frequented for more than 30 years. His visit prompts a flood of memories for each of the characters: Joe, who inherited the camp from his father but spent years away when his father convinced him to evade the Vietnam draft; Lucy, Joe's wife, whose love for her husband and the camp is intertwined with her love for Harry; Jordan, a young fishing guide who finds solace and purpose at the camp; and Lucy's daughter, Kate, an aspiring medical student whose presence links all of the characters. Each character tells a portion of their back-story in alternating chapters, and as the events of the day progress, the reader begins to understand the sources of the complex tension underlying each relationship. Chronologically, the story begins with the arrival of Joe's father to the camp just after World War II, and the whole novel has something of a 1940s feel about it: the bedrock realities of family and place remain constant in spite of the vicissitudes of emotions and events, and the voices of these Mainers have a lovely calm that evokes the timeless summer place. Though the pieces of the story fit almost too neatly and everyone ends up exactly where they should, the novel's recognition of human frailty and nobility rings true, as does its faithful recreation of a place outside the storms of history. Agent, Ellen Levine. (July 6) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

In this follow-up to the award-winning Mary and O'Neil, a dying man's last wish. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Cronin's graceful second (after Mary and O'Neil, 2001) is well executed but uncompelling as it tells of the hold a lakeside Maine camp has on three generations of a family. The characters are as good as their intentions, and the evils that intrude are the impersonal plagues of war and disease. Everyone is forgiving, loving, and sensitive, even Harry Wainwright, a paragon of corporate responsibility, whose living and dying ties the people and the story together. Things begin as Joe Crosby, badly wounded in WWII, buys a camp in Maine in 1947 and moves there with wife Amy and baby Joe. Nearly five decades later, it's summer, and Joe junior's wife Lucy and their daughter Kate, a medical student, as well as guide Jordan, are awaiting the arrival of the dying Harry. Harry has cancer but is determined to go fishing at a place that has long been a treasured refuge. Jordan, Joe, Lucy, Kate, and Harry record this last visit while also revisiting their respective pasts. Joe and Lucy have just sold the camp to Harry, who has a surprising but perfect new owner in mind. Harry has played an even more significant role in the Crosbys' lives. During Vietnam, Joe fled to Canada, and Lucy, his high-school sweetheart, helped the ailing Joe Senior run the camp. One year, a grieving Harry, whose wife has just died, arrived to spend the summer and found comfort in helping Joe and Lucy. Lucy, who'd dreamed of marrying young Joe, found herself drawn to the much older Harry, as he was to her: an attraction that had consequences when Joe returned to marry her. But the secrets and attractions have no corrosive power, and Harry is more a benevolent godfather with time on his hands than he was as a busy tycoon. Even as he lies dying, he continues to give generously and behave thoughtfully. Pleasant people in a pleasant setting, but without the credibility and edge to engage. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Love, loss, and the magnetic power of place are themes evoked in this luminous novel from the PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author of Mary and O'Neil (2001). Diagnosed with terminal cancer, celebrated financier Harry Wainwright longs for one more visit to a beloved fishing camp in the remote reaches of Maine, to cast "a flyline over water as still as God's held breath." Camp owner Joe Crosby, a Vietnam draft evader who inherited the property from his war-hero father, is honored to grant the wish of the kindly millionaire, who has been a summer visitor to the camp for more than 30 years. Arriving with his wife, son, and granddaughter in tow, the frail Wainwright makes a dramatic bequest that transforms a tranquil lakeside sojourn into a life-altering event. Narrated in alternating chapters by characters whose lives are inextricably linked to each other--and to the camp--Cronin's novel reveals the rugged beauty of his native New England and the tender terrain of the human heart. ((Reviewed June 1 & 15, 2004)) Copyright 2004 Booklist Reviews.

In this follow-up to the award-winning Mary and O'Neil, a dying man's last wish. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

A Maine fishing camp serves as the physical and emotional center for an extended circle of family and friends in this charming novel spanning three generations. On a single day in late summer, the rich financier Harry Wainwright, now dying of cancer, visits the camp he has frequented for more than 30 years. His visit prompts a flood of memories for each of the characters: Joe, who inherited the camp from his father but spent years away when his father convinced him to evade the Vietnam draft; Lucy, Joe's wife, whose love for her husband and the camp is intertwined with her love for Harry; Jordan, a young fishing guide who finds solace and purpose at the camp; and Lucy's daughter, Kate, an aspiring medical student whose presence links all of the characters. Each character tells a portion of their back-story in alternating chapters, and as the events of the day progress, the reader begins to understand the sources of the complex tension underlying each relationship. Chronologically, the story begins with the arrival of Joe's father to the camp just after World War II, and the whole novel has something of a 1940s feel about it: the bedrock realities of family and place remain constant in spite of the vicissitudes of emotions and events, and the voices of these Mainers have a lovely calm that evokes the timeless summer place. Though the pieces of the story fit almost too neatly and everyone ends up exactly where they should, the novel's recognition of human frailty and nobility rings true, as does its faithful recreation of a place outside the storms of history. Agent, Ellen Levine. (July 6) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.