An epic and cinematic debut from Nicola Harrison, Montauk captures the glamour and extravagance of a summer by the sea with the story of a woman torn between the life she chose and the life she desires. Montauk, Long Island, 1938. For three months, this humble fishing village will serve as the playground for New York City’s wealthy elite. Beatrice Bordeaux was looking forward to a summer of reigniting the passion between her and her husband, Harry. Instead, tasked with furthering his investment interest in Montauk as a resort destination, she learns she’ll be spending twelve weeks sequestered with the high society wives at The Montauk Manor—a two-hundred room seaside hotel—while Harry pursues other interests in the city. College educated, but raised a modest country girl in Pennsylvania, Bea has never felt fully comfortable among these privileged women, whose days are devoted not to their children but to leisure activities and charities that seemingly benefit no one but themselves. She longs to be a mother herself, as well as a loving wife, but after five years of marriage she remains childless while Harry is increasingly remote and distracted. Despite lavish parties at the Manor and the Yacht Club, Bea is lost and lonely and befriends the manor’s laundress whose work ethic and family life stir memories of who she once was. As she drifts further from the society women and their preoccupations and closer toward Montauk’s natural beauty and community spirit, Bea finds herself drawn to a man nothing like her husband –stoic, plain spoken and enigmatic. Inspiring a strength and courage she had almost forgotten, his presence forces her to face a haunting tragedy of her past and question her future. Desperate to embrace moments of happiness, no matter how fleeting, she soon discovers that such moments may be all she has, when fates conspire to tear her world apart…
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“Nicola Harrison offers a rich and decadent peek into the glamorous?and not so glamorous?lives of pre-war Manhattan society. Beautifully written with an expert eye for historical detail, Montauk is both love story and social commentary, but at its heart it’s the thought-provoking story of a woman with the courage to find her voice and inner strength. Heartbreaking and heartwarming, Montauk is a lovely book, meant to be savored.”
— Karen White, New York Times bestselling author
“Nicola Harrison offers a rich and decadent peek into the glamorous―and not so glamorous―lives of pre-war Manhattan society. Beautifully written with an expert eye for historical detail, Montauk is both love story and social commentary, but at its heart it’s the thought-provoking story of a woman with the courage to find her voice and inner strength. Heartbreaking and heartwarming, Montauk is a lovely book, meant to be savored.”
— Karen White, New York Times bestselling author“You don’t have to go to Montauk to enjoy the beach. In this lovely debut novel, Nicola Harrison brings the beach to you, along with its people, its mores, and its contradictions. I so enjoyed Montauk, and I look forward to many more novels by Nicola Harrison.”
— Lisa See, New York Times bestselling author“Heartbreaking and heartwarming, Montauk is a lovely book, meant to be savored.”
— Karen White, New York Times bestselling authorBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Erin Bennett is an Earphones Award–winning narrator and a stage actress who played Carlie Roberts in the BBC radio drama Torchwood: Submission. She can be heard on several video games. Regional theater appearances include the Intiman, Pasadena Playhouse, Arizona Theatre Company, A Noise Within, Laguna Playhouse, and the Getty Villa. She trained at Boston University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
Erin Bennett is an Earphones Award–winning narrator and a stage actress who played Carlie Roberts in the BBC radio drama Torchwood: Submission. She can be heard on several video games. Regional theater appearances include the Intiman, Pasadena Playhouse, Arizona Theatre Company, A Noise Within, Laguna Playhouse, and the Getty Villa. She trained at Boston University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.