This is a beautifully rendered family history set in the 50's and 60's. The author examines so many issues: dementia, adult children's responsibilities and careers as well as their growing children's issues as they grapple with their newfound family dynamics and the US political landscape.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC. What a great family drama story. Taking place in the 60s which is one of my favorite times to read about. Highly recommend..

Margreete's Harbor took me back to rural America in the 1960's. Full of beautifully written character's this book is for anyone who wanted to peal back the layers of their families and take a glimpse at the previous generations. Heartwarming and and full of emotions, this book will leave you bare.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley.

This book is based in the 1940s-60s mostly set in Maine about a family who moves in with with mother/MIL/grandma as her dementia worsens. Each person has their own issues that they are grappling with set amongst the backdrop of the Vietnam War. It was eye-opening to read about some of the day to day attitudes, some of which still persist today.

I was hooked from the get-go when the matriarch suffers a memory lapse and almost burns her house down. This is the start of a family needing to care for the mother who could no longer be on her own. The decision to move and share a house with someone who was once independent affects everyone. We follow this family during the 50s and 60s where the daughter has to care for her mother and her family while trying to have her own life as a musician. Her husband wasn't happy about the change in their lives and he struggles with his dislike of the Vietnam War and their stagnant marriage, and the children have their growth and changes and searching for what they want. This family drama is full of struggles, adaptation, forgiveness, love, and just being human with some flaws but finding strength from their family. Beautiful, family story. Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This was a great book. It moved along at a great pace, had enough detail with all of the interesting characters without getting boring or dragging at anytime. It had humor, heart wrenching drama and family love woven throughout.

Margreete is dreading the call she must make to her daughter Liddie. A very independent woman, dementia is stealing her mind, and after setting fire to her kitchen, it might steal her life. Liddie feels the only answer is for her family to leave the life they love in Michigan and return to her childhood home in Maine. Her mother won't be alone and won't have to go to assisted living.
It isn't the smoothest move, as Margreete’s condition often makes her wonder who these people are and what they are doing in her house. As the family slowly acclimates to their new normal, each of their personalities is revealed. There is no magical fix for Margreete, but as the story progresses, the love they feel for each other, helps them deal with the inevitable.
It is set in the fifties and sixties, so it is a glimpse back in time to a much different United States. The family is living through challenging times, with President Kennedy's assassination and the Vietnam War. Events that would alter this generation and more.
I am usually a mystery and thriller book reader, but when I need a break, I enjoy books that revolve around family and showcase different points in history. A slow burn but one that kept flipping pages and seeing the world through another lens.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Margreete leaves bacon drippings simmering on her stove and burns down the kitchen. Liddie, her daughter, Henry, her son-in-law, and their children move back to Maine to live with Margreete after deciding that it was the best option. There were natural resentments and also blessings that arose from their new living circumstances. The novel focuses on all the family--Margreete, Liddie, Henry, and their children. It is thought-provoking and displays believable, raw emotion.

I highly recommend this beautiful novel.

This is a beautifully written, evocative novel that will make you wish you could call your mother one more time.

When Margreete sets her kitchen on fire, Liddie realizes her mother can no longer live alone. Liddie uproots her family and they all move in with Margreete in her coastal Maine home. The novel covers nearly two decades; we watch Liddie's children grow up, we track the ups and downs of Liddie's career and marriage, and we fall in love with Margreete.

Eleanor Morse is adept in writing from the perspective of a frustrated husband, a thirteen year old boy, and a dementia addled woman. All are equally engaging and convincing. We are drawn into the family dramas and are touched by the sweet moments such as when daughter Gretchen can't bear to hear the neighbor's mother cow lowing mournfully for her separated calf. Morse's writing is never heavy-handed, always on point, and lovely in its simplicity.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am grateful to St. Martin's Press and to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Margreete’s Harbor is a beautiful book from the first page to the last.. It is the story of one family who moves from Michigan to Maine to live with their aging Mother/ Grandmother who’s mental and physical health is declining. The story takes place during the turbulent 60’s and many social issues that continue to exist in our world are woven throughout the development of each of the characters and this family’s story. Simply a lovely read and one cannot help but compare or have thoughts provoked regarding their own lives, passions and moral compasses when delving into those of the book’s characters. Highly recommend reading Margreete’s Harbor

Set in Maine’s coastal area during the late ’50s through the ’60s, this novel takes us through the lives of Margreete and her family.

Margreete is an independent woman who is slowly forgetting who she is and was. So when she accidentally starts a fire in her kitchen, her children know they need to do something. Margreet isn’t going anywhere as she flits through the book wondering what these people are doing in her house.

Her daughter Liddie and her husband and children move in with her to try and keep her in the house and out of a nursing facility. None of them are happy about it and soon we are dealing with an unhappy wife who just wants to play her cello, kids who are dealing with the turbulence that was the sixties, a husband who can’t be quiet about the Vietnam War and who cheats on his wife. All the while Margreete is fading into the background, almost forgotten herself.

Against the backdrop of all the craziness of the sixties, there were a lot of things happening in this book. But the one thing that wasn’t was communication. A very dysfunctional family dealing with a matriarch who doesn’t even know who they are. The question of when to let someone you love live a better life outside of their home is never an easy one. I felt so bad for Margreete and by the end of the book, she was almost invisible.

NetGalley/ April 20, 2021, St. Martin’s Press

I give Margreete’s Harbor an “A” for effort. The rest was an overly lengthy mish mash of depressed and possibly mentally ill characters. If you like whining, and wallowing in your own misery, you will enjoy this book. There was nothing remotely redeeming or uplifting about this book or its characters. I was ready to give up at 50% and kept reading, hoping something interesting might happen. It didn’t. The dog was my favorite character and that didn’t end well, either. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

A very good book, one can almost feel the salt air and mist from the ocean. A wonderful book about family and living out our days

Margreete’s Harbor is a beautifully written novel of a family and its dynamics, turmoil, unconditional love and understanding and misunderstanding! Sound complicated? It is. Anyone with a family and extended family knows the equilibrium within its confines can be complex. This book touches on so many emotions and as the family grows, so do many problems but also many resolutions and solutions. Children come of age. Adults transition. But what remains constant, is the bond the family shares. I really enjoyed this read. Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was hooked from the opening chapter if this book- after her mother nearly burns her house down, Liddie is faced with a non-choice- She has to pack up her family and move back home to care for her mother. Her mother Margreeth had always been fiercely independent and though no longer of sound mind, resents her, her husband and her children’s presence. in her life. Several years ago As my own mother was beginning to age, I was faced with a similar choice. I instantly recognized the stubbornness of Margreeth that seems to go hand to hand with old age.

As the family adjusts to their life in Maine, we learn more about them as people. Liddie, a professional cellist, music is her solace. Her husband Harry desperately trying to make the world a better place for his children and their children Bernie and Eva. Bernie smart, observant and awkward. Evie the middle child, a creative soul and baby Gretchen who’s tender heart feels all that is wrong with the world. Margreeth aware that she is slowly losing her mind, fierce, proud and trying to hold on desperately hanging on as long as she can to her independence.

It’s essentially a love story of a family. Tender, flawed people living with the choices they made, or didn’t make. The turbulent 1960s when it seemed that everything was wrong with the world, ad this little family finds that all you have is each other.

I could not finish this book, set over the course of ten years during the 1960's and 1970's.. I was initially attracted to the premise of this book, where a daughter relocates her family across the country to move into her childhood home with her elderly mother who is struggling with losing her memory and can no longer live alone, as there are many adult children today struggling with caring for their elderly parents. I especially enjoyed the historical aspect of the book as the characters stayed at Howard Johnson hotels on their journey across the country, as it brought back memories of my own childhood and the fabulous sundaes I used to eat at their restaurants. Unfortunately, I couldn't connect with any of the family members, whose stories were told in alternate chapters. I made it 70 percent of the way through the book before deciding that I was not going to connect with any of the characters in the remaining chapters of the book. Perhaps others will connect with the story better than myself.

This is a lovely story of a family learning to grow and change around an aging family member who has dementia.
The writing was simple, yet elegant and actions of each character combined kept me, the reader, engaged. The characters are very relatable and could be people you know and encounter all the time.
Margreete herself was funny and real. The way in which the family relates to and handles her descent into dementia is very touching.
I think this would make a good book club read especially with some from the generations of the 50s and 60s.

A good, heartfelt read.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC!

I liked the first couple of chapters but had a hard time remining interested after that. I trudged along to chapter 27 before giving up. Nothing in the characters, other than Margreet, held my attention. Maybe with all thst is going on in the U.S. I just need something more exciting or entertaining to occupy my mind.

When Liddie’s Mom, Margreete had a major fire in her kitchen, Liddie tried to tell her Mom she needed to move into a care home,but Margreete was having none of it. She was loosing her memory, a tragic state of affairs for the family, so sad. The family decided to move to Burnt Harbour, Maine, otherwise know as Margreete’s Harbour to live with her mother. A small isolated town, very different from the city they had left. Liddie had to put her cello away, no more concerts for her, Harry had to find a new job, the kids a new school and try to make new friends.

Margarette didn’t want the family there, she asked the same questions over and over, wandered around all over the house, climbed into everyone’s bed and forgot where she was and who you were. But the love that grew between them all is beautiful. The author has betrayed their family life with extraordinary ease, each family member having their own say dealing with their emotions, their struggles and beliefs.

I highly recommend reading this book, it is very hard to put down!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's press for this ARC of Margreete's Harbor. This is a lovely book, and one that I savored for a long time. I have not read any of Eleanor Morse's previous books, but I plan to. Her writing reminds me of Ann Tyler and her characters could be friends with Olive Kitteridge. High praise!
This is a very sensory novel. We not only see Burnt Hafbor, but we smell it and hear it, and through the very real observations of the characters, we feel it. The author did a masterful job of invoking memories of growing uo in the 60's. The commercials on TV, the fish sticks for dinner, the attitudes of teachers and the clothing and music. Spot on!
The book is long and has the appeal of an epic. We follow the lives of Margreete and her family as they live life and face issues eerily similar to some we are facing now. The author as observer guides us calmly alongside this family and their jobs, passions, failures and joy.
It is my hope that this beautiful book will receive the success it deserves. Highly recommended.