Distant shores

by Hannah, Kristin.

Format: Large Print 2002
Availability: Unavailable 0 copies
Summary
In her remarkable New York Times bestseller, Summer Island, Kristin Hannah struck a chord in readers and critics alike with her portrayal of the bittersweet reunion between an errant mother and her unforgiving daughter. Now Hannah once again reveals the fragile ties that bind a family in transition, as two people choose to escape the limits of their ordinary lives and reach for the extraordinary promise that lies on Distant Shores. Elizabeth and Jackson Shore married young, raised two daughters, and weathered the storms of youth as they built a future together. But after the children leave home, they quietly drift apart. When Jack accepts a wonderful new job offer, Elizabeth puts her needs aside to follow him across the country. Until the sudden death of her father changes everything. Grieving and alone, she retreats to an isolated beach house where she packs away the last remnants of her parents' lives. There, the pieces of a past she never knew unfold to reveal a tender story of lasting devotion, the kind of steadfast commitment that Elizabeth admits is missing from her own marriage. Faced with her own disillusionment, she makes a terrifying decision, risking everything she has for a second chance at happiness. Enriched by soul-stirring emotion and an appreciation for the simple joy of everyday miracles, Distant Shores is an exquisite reminder of the most precious gifts in life: friends and family, children and lovers, the strength to change, and the courage to forgive-all flawlessly captured by the graceful hands of Kristin Hannah. From the Hardcover edition.
Published Reviews
Booklist Review: "Elizabeth "Birdie" Shore finds herself firmly ensconced in middle age and just going through the motions of marriage with Jackson, her husband of 24 years. She has always put her husband's needs and career first, moving constantly while raising their two daughters, but now that the children are in college, she feels herself slowly drifting away just as Jackson's career is finally on the upswing. A star football player who lost his way after being injured and developing an addiction to pain killers, Jackson is having a comeback in the world of sports television, but that means they have to leave Birdie's dream house in Oregon and move to New York City. As usual, she just follows her husband, but when her father dies unexpectedly, Birdie decides to separate from Jackson and go back to Oregon to find herself and her former dream of being a painter. Isolated in her beach house, Birdie tries to rekindle the passion she had for her art, which reminds her of the passion she felt for her husband. Jackson, however, is busy indulging in the lifestyle he always thought he missed by marrying too young^-he's famous and surrounded by beautiful young women. This insightful look into the dynamics of marriage will resonate with readers, and mark Hannah as a strong voice in women's fiction. ^-Patty Engelmann"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review: "Having found her audience with Summer Island and On Mystic Lake, Hannah returns with another second-chance-at-love story, this one as bleak as the soggy Pacific Northwest setting. Perimenopausal former artist Elizabeth Shore is feeling lost and miserable these days, as daughters Jamie and Stephanie matriculate at Georgetown and husband Jack focuses on jump-starting his stalled sports broadcasting career. So Elizabeth, tellingly nicknamed "Birdie," compulsively redecorates her empty nest and pesters Jack with lugubrious questions about what's wrong with their lives. Then Jack scores a journalistic coup, and in his implausibly meteoric return to broadcasting glory, winds up in an efficiency apartment in New York City, halfheartedly fending off the advances of both a nubile assistant and a Hollywood bombshell. Meanwhile, back in rainy Oregon, Birdie grieves for her beloved late father, joins a support group for "passionless" women, starts to paint again and talks to herself in the self-help homilies Hannah favors ("No more cheerleader years for me. I need to get in the game"). She even has a rapprochement with newly widowed stepmother Anita, who, in a particularly explosive burst of character development, somehow transforms from a tacky Southern "Bette Midler on speed" to a white-haired sylph favoring "long, flowing" white dresses. (When Birdie finds her bliss, she discovers she's miraculously lost weight.) Hannah's tried-and-true formula includes the predictable happy ending, complete with life lessons tearfully learned, but only hardcore fans will make it to the last page of this dreary soap. 6-city author tour. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved"
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Additional Information
Subjects Married women -- Fiction.
Inheritance and succession -- Fiction.
Middle-aged women -- Fiction.
Fathers -- Death -- Fiction.
Solitude -- Fiction.
Large type books.
Psychological fiction.
Domestic fiction.
Publisher Waterville, Me. :Wheeler Pub.,2002
Language English
Description 487 pages (large print) ; 24 cm
ISBN 1587243199 (lg. print : hc : alk. paper)
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