Margreete's Harbor

A Novel

By: Eleanor Morse

Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert

A literary novel set on the coast of Maine during the 1960s, tracing the life of a family and its matriarch as they negotiate sharing a home.

Eleanor Morse's Margreete’s Harbor begins with a fire: A fiercely-independent, thrice-widowed woman living on her own in a rambling house near the Maine coast forgets a hot pan on the stovetop, and nearly burns her place down.

When Margreete Bright calls her daughter Liddie to confess, Liddie realizes that her mother can no longer live alone. She, her husband Harry, and their children Eva and Bernie move from a settled life in Michigan across the country to Margreete’s isolated home, and begin a new life.

Margreete’s Harbor tells the story of 10 years in the history of a family: a novel of small moments, intimate betrayals, arrivals and disappearances that coincide with America during the late 1950s through the turbulent 1960s. Liddie, a professional cellist, struggles to find space for her music in a marriage that increasingly confines her; Harry’s critical approach to the growing war in Vietnam endangers his new position as a high school history teacher; Bernie and Eva begin to find their own identities as young adults; and Margreete slowly descends into a private world of memories, even as she comes to find a larger purpose in them.

This beautiful novel - attuned to the seasons of nature, the internal dynamics of a family, and a nation torn by its contradicting ideals - reveals the largest meanings in the smallest and most secret moments of life. Listeners of Elizabeth Strout, Alice Munro, and Anne Tyler will find themselves at home in Margreete’s Harbor.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press

"Full of love, triumph and a boatload of heartbreak, Margreete’s Harbor is a celebration of life’s inevitable messiness. As after any good visit with family or dear friends, you will leave feeling satisfied while yearning for more." (BookPage)

©2021 Eleanor Morse (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"I was held spellbound by the brilliance and beauty of Margreete's Harbor. The family, the children, the music, the pets, the senile grandmother, the idealistic father, still live in Maine, in my heart and mind, like all the very best novels we are given to treasure." (Nancy Thayer, best-selling author of Girls of Summer)

"Margreete's Harbor is a novel that embraces your neighborhood, then the people who live on the other side of the world; then you. It cradles us all and shakes us awake. If you don't want to feel your heart expand or to live a bit closer to your own bones, don’t read this book. If you want to feel more, to understand more than you felt and thought yesterday, start reading and don’t stop." (Sena Jeter Naslund, best-selling author of Ahab's Wife)

"Margreete's Harbor breaks and mends the heart in the way of all great literature. It’s a collective story, roaring with love in the little moments. Profound revelations about relationships, emotions, and life in general. Descriptions of land, place, animals, and the natural world: some of the best I've ever read. The narrative moves with power, grace, and vivid music through history and the characters simultaneously - and differently. The people Morse writes are so real that I wouldn’t be surprised to meet them on the street." (Neela Vaswani, author of Where the Long Grass Bends)

Life Is a challenge by our choices?

Every day we face decisions, that is our choice, without always knowing how that choice affects others in our life. Not always thinking that it will matter to them.
This is about that disregard or do we know and do it anyway.

Throughly enjoyed

This book was recommended by a friend who is acquainted with the author. I’ve never read anything else by Morse, but have to say that I will now. The characters were well developed and the storyline is good. I found myself knowing it was close to the end and not wanting to finish.
The book takes place in the 50s and 60s and covers a lot about what our country went through during that time. The family is flawed, as we all are, but somehow they manage to hang into each other...almost. I loved Margreete! Each character has an interesting storyline and was very believable. I am hoping there might be a sequel in the future.

A brilliant book!

If ever a book could take a reader into the deep meaning of an era as well as the experience of immersion into the heart of a family learning to live and love in that era, Margreete’s Harbor is that book. Blessings on Eleanor Mose for her extensive knowledge of music and her compassion for the passages of human life.

The human experience

Relatable, insightful, a very good listen. Touches on many subjects and emotions that make the characters real, living.

Heart warming landscape

A wonderful character-driven read. This book goes down easy. A canvas of time 1955-1968 with a family in coastal Maine.

Maybe if I had read it.

The older woman shrieked, ALL THE TIME. The young woman whined, ALL THE TIME. I just couldn't do it.