Leeway Cottage: A Novel [Paperback]

In this sprawling family epic, Gutcheon (More Than You Know) chronicles how an unlikely marriage endures over the course of the 20th century. The novel is anchored in the idyllic, fictional summer colony of Dundee, Maine, which will always feel like home to Annabelle Sydney Brant, but turns on the story of the Danish resistance against the Nazis in WWII, a revolt Annabelle's Danish-born, half-Jewish husband, Laurus Moss, leaves the U.S. to join. Annabelle matures from the young, cosseted Annabee (coming-out parties in Cleveland, sailing in Maine) to the bohemian Sydney (voice lessons and a flat in New York City), clashing with her chilly, socialite mother, Candace, along the way. In New York, she meets Laurus, a pianist, and as they court, Hitler marches on Europe. When the Nazis invade Denmark in 1940, Laurus cannot rest idly with his homeland and family endangered, so joins the London-based Danish Resistance. During their separation, Sydney gives birth to the first of three children and Laurus's family escapes from Denmark to Sweden. The war and time apart change but don't estrange Laurus and Sydney, whose lasting union despite glaring differences puzzles observers: "Sydney and Laurus Moss were like a tiger and a zebra married to each other. What were those two doing together?" Charting a marriage against the backdrop of a tumultuous century, Gutcheon writes evocatively of love and war.
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Gutcheon revisits Dundee, Maine, to create a Cinderella story with a different ending. Sydney Brant grows up in wealth and privilege, the apple of her father's eye. When he dies, she is left with her overbearing mother, who is impossible to please. Sydney escapes to Manhattan to be a singer, determined to live her life just the way she wants to. She meets Laurus Moss, a poor but gifted piano player from Copenhagen. They fall in love and marry, but World War II intervenes. Laurus, half-Jewish, goes to England to aid the Dutch underground, while Sydney stays home to have a baby and organize knitting groups. The horrors of the camps and his family's trials are mere annoyances to Sydney, whose world is all about sailboat races and children. Told against the backdrop of the amazing Danish Resistance and their protection of the Dutch Jews, Gutcheon's tale is more than just a story of a marriage; it's a metaphor for an era. Elizabeth Dickie
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

“[E]nthralling . . . triumphant and true.” (Boston Globe )

“Absorbing…Daring…Gutcheon has strong narrative skills.” (New York Times Book Review, Editor’s Choice )

“Pure storytelling…[Gutcheon’s] characters and settings are alive, sparkling with deft touches of period detail…riveting…vibrant.” (New York Newsday )

“A remarkably rich and emotionally jarring novel filled ultimately with hope.” (Pages Magazine )

“A great drama, cinematically told…[Gutcheon] writes elegantly about the complex bonds of family.” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette )

“A gentle, even tender book. Every reader will be wiser for it.” (BookPage )

“A good old–fashioned, all–encompassing read, with tears and smiles guaranteed.” (Library Journal )

“Compelling…Ambitious…Gutcheon’s insights are…keen, her sympathy for all her characters…contagious.” (Kirkus Reviews )

“Charting a marriage against the backdrop of a tumultuous century, Gutcheon writes evocatively of love and war.” (Publishers Weekly )

“Gutcheon’s tale is more than just a story of a marriage; it’s a metaphor for an era.” (Booklist )

“Stirring…The World War II saga anchors the novel, giving it resonance beyond the family dramas Gutcheon tells so well.” (Los Angeles Times )

“A rich saga of an American family told with moving clarity.” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel )

“A compelling and deeply felt reading experience.” (Times Leader )

In April 1940, as the Nazis march into Denmark, Sydney Brant, a wealthy girl of the Dundee summer colony, marries a gifted Danish pianist, Laurus Moss. They believe they are well matched, as young lovers do, but Laurus's beloved family is in Copenhagen, hostage to what the fortunes of Hitler's war will bring. By the time the war is over, Laurus's family has played an active role in Denmark's grassroots rescue of virtually all seven thousand of the country's Jews. Meanwhile, in America, Sydney has led a group knitting for the war effort, and had a baby.

Combining the story of one long American twentieth-century marriage with one of the most stirring stories of World War II, Leeway Cottage is a beautifully written tour de force of a novel.

Beth Gutcheon is the critically acclaimed author of eight previous novels: The New Girls, Still Missing, Domestic Pleasures, Saying Grace, Five Fortunes, More Than You Know, Leeway Cottage, and Good-bye and Amen. She is the writer of several film scripts, including the Academy Award nominee The Children of Theatre Street. She lives in New York City.

Elizabeth Marvel captures the subtleties and humor of Gutcheon's fine novel of family and friendships. The guest book of Leeway Cottage, the Maine summer house that is the touchstone of several generations of the Brant family, follows the years from the '30s through WWII to the present. The entries of comments by guests center the swirl of events and characters--a useful device especially in this abridgment. Marvel is perceptive of the carefully honed balance of emotions of the characters and brings them alive with voice and cadence. Marvel's deft way with dialogue enhances the richness of the portraits. The men's voices are distinctive and serviceable, if not perfect, but the many Danish and German names are spoken fluidly. R.F.W. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.