THE BOAT HOUSE CAFÉ
The islanders of Chappaquiddick have a saying: “Some come here to heal; others come to hide.”
Everyone has secrets, some more than most.
Armed with her Irish mother’s recipes and a willingness to roll up her sleeves, Mae Keaney retreats to the island of her childhood to escape a shameful and bitter past. After turning an abandoned fishing camp into a successful café, she becomes known for both her pies and her fierce solitude.
But when a catastrophic fire threatens her home and livelihood, Mae confronts the reality—and loneliness—of her isolation. She reluctantly accepts help from Tobias Monroe, a Native American who shares her intense need for a solitary life on the wild land.
Torn between a deepening connection to Tobias and her desire to guard her secrets, Mae struggles to preserve the isolated existence she once thought was her only choice. Will she cling to the false safety of her reclusive life or reach out to forge new bonds of family and community when faced with not only a devastating illness but also the threat of losing her child?
THE BOAT HOUSE CAFÉ, the first book in the multigenerational family saga First Light—a story of courage in the face of loss and the sacrifices one makes for love.
* First Place in 20th-Century Fiction in the Goethe Award for Historical Fiction *
“Award-winning writer Cardillo planned out this stunning family saga with extreme care. Though the motivations and histories of her well-constructed characters may be mysterious at first, the author will thoughtfully tie up every thread as the story progresses. Her setting, a tiny dot of land hanging out in the Atlantic Ocean, subject to torments of both harsh weather and human weakness, gives the tale great power, somehow presenting more potential for drama than similar yarns spun on safe, dry land. . . .The island, in Cardillo’s skilled hands, becomes not just an enthralling environment but a shared ethos.
Ultimately, this beautifully written, passionate, page-turning adventure of a blended family history and a romance of grand proportions will have readers yearning to continue the series with The Uneven Road and Island Legacy.” – Barbara Bamberger Scott, Chanticleer Reviews
“A triumphant tale of love, family, and courage… In this beautiful, lyrical novel, Linda Cardillo creates a fierce, strong-willed heroine, unafraid of hard work, solitude, or the judgment of her fellow islanders.” – Judith Arnold, USA Today Bestselling Author
The wind at Innisfree talks. Late at night, just outside the rear windows of the house, the voices rise up from the beach below the sea wall, slither through the grass and whisper around the eaves. Sometimes it is the low murmur of lovers under the filmy curtain of the Milky Way. But often, it is the conspiratorial rumble of those whose only purpose on the shore in the middle of the night is secretive, furtive. The words are indecipherable, but the voices rise and fall with inflection. The wind converses—with the house, with the sea, with itself.
The first time I heard the voices, I froze in my bed, silent and still, straining to understand what they were saying, convinced they were men arguing about breaking into the house. I am a woman alone with a cash business. Everyone knows that. Easy prey.
I keep a gun in a wooden box under the bed. No one knows that, except perhaps old man Lyons who runs the Edgartown Hardware where I purchase my ammunition along with my nails and buckets and garden tools.
I mentally prepared myself to unlock the box and load the pistol, when I realized the voices were continuing in an endless, monotonous loop accompanied by the shushing and high-pitched whistle that I recognized as the voice of nature, not of men. I let down my guard and lowered the window by my bed. Enough of that disturbance. And then I slept.
Mae Keaney, a woman who grew up on Chappaquiddick Island, returns to open the Boat House Cafe in her adulthood.
Katrina and Liam Keaney, Mae’s estranged parents who immigrated from Ireland.
Tobias Monroe, a Wampanoag man who befriends Mae.
Josiah Monroe Sr, Tobias’s dying father, the Wampanoag sachem.
Naomi Monroe, Tobias’ mother, and wife to Josiah senior
Sadie Monroe, cousin of Tobias, a fierce defender Wampanoag tribe.
Betty Furman, a middle-aged waitress at the Vineyard Haven Inn and friend of Mae’s.
Marcus Gardner, an island judge and real estate agent.
Aggie Gardner, Marcus Gardner’s secretary and wife.
Henry Walker, Edgartown lawyer and friend of Mae’s.
Ruth Walker, wife of Henry Walker.
Kathleen Bradley, daughter of Katrina and Liam, and Mae’s older sister.
Ned Bradley, childhood friend of Mae and Kathleen, now a wealthy owner of a manufacturing company.
Josiah Monroe, child of Mae and Tobias.