The Vineyard

by Michael Hurley

Overview

Dory Delano, Charlotte Harris, and Turner Graham have been drifting through life since their days as roommates at Smith College, ten years ago. Dory is resisting taking the reins of her family's legacy and fortune even as she relishes the fabulous lifestyle it affords her in the fashionable seaside resort of Martha's Vineyard. She invites her old friends to join her for a summer on the Vineyard in hopes of rediscovering the innocence of old days and healing new wounds. But hidden in their midst and unknown to all but a few, a reclusive--some say dangerous--fisherman wanders alone, fueling wild speculation about his purpose and his past. None of these women can imagine the events their encounter with the fisherman will set in motion, the shadow he will cast over their destinies, or the transformation that awaits the world they know.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780976127574
Publisher:	Ragbagger Press
Publication date:	11/25/2014
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.88(d)

Editorial Reviews

02/16/2015
An enigmatic loner upends the lives of three desperate and disparate women in this well-written second novel. Reuniting for a summer on Martha’s Vineyard 10 years after they first met, college chums Turner, Charlotte, and Dory have all run adrift in their lives. Charlotte has even mapped out a permanent escape route: an elaborately planned suicide via drowning. When she carries out her plan she realizes—nearly too late—that her will to live is still alive and kicking, and “the fisherman” inexplicably materializes and pulls her to safety. The aftermath uncovers damaging secrets and painful betrayals, yet the three friends embark on the course to salvation. This is a riveting tale with complex characters, and a religious undertow—as the name “the fisherman” might suggest. Hurley (The Prodigal) has crafted a strong story that examines friendship, corruption, mysticism, and love. (BookLife)

Publishers Weekly

2014-11-12
In this engrossing mashup of chick lit, mystery and romance, Hurley (The Prodigal, 2013, etc.) conjures up experiences that provoke three beautiful young women marred by failure and disappointment to question traditional values (church and family).Once on Martha's Vineyard, mystical, life-altering events (as well as sexual encounters) come to the three friends in rapid succession. Sweet, 32-year-old, suicidal Charlotte Harris arrives via ferry, and she carries an urn with her daughter's ashes. She's ostensibly there to indulge in a reunion with her old college pals, the glamorous sexpot Turner Graham and the single, athletic and free-spirited Dory Delano (who welcomes both as guests in her elegant Edgartown home). Dory immediately asks Charlotte (who is ready to slip off and kill herself) to find Enoch, a soft-spoken man known as "the fisherman." When she accidentally hands him her suicide note instead of Dory's shopping list, he reads it. His advice? Swim off Gay Head where currents are strongest. While readers may suspect Charlotte's efforts to drown herself will fail, her implausible, nearly miraculous rescue, not to mention Dory's own subsequent experience with the miraculous, and Enoch's unselfish, peaceful behavior create a riptide of curiosity. While not philosophically deep, the novel is addictive, escapist reading that features stock figures such as Dory's beau, Trafalgar "Tripp" Wallace the Third, who squanders his family's old money, and Father Tommy Vecchio, who gives priests a bad name. Some facile generalizations about Roman Catholicism weaken the story, but clever biblical parallels and metaphors that run underneath the surface add intrigue. The skippable final chapters offer a secular explanation of Enoch, which seems unnecessary to all but the most literal-minded readers. Readers may want to stop reading after the deliriously satisfying conclusion and just enjoy a peek into the lives of the filthy rich.A real sense of place makes this recommended read almost as much fun as the Vineyard in July.

Kirkus Reviews