Canterbury Beach

June M. Blurton is a retired speech/language pathologist.

A daughter-in-law and four members of a family are driving from northern
Nova Scotia to a cottage in Maine. They have done this every summer for
the past 40 years, but this time two of the sons are absent. Neil, the
oldest, has sent his wife ahead because their marriage is breaking up;
and Garnet, the youngest, has been estranged from his family for years,
although there is a chance he will join them at the cottage.

As they travel, they observe, talk, share secrets, and remember. The
mother knows her family is divided and yearns to reunite its members.
The father cannot forget his own dead father and his wife’s brief,
unconsummated affair with a neighbor. Evelyn, the “unique” one,
fights with Spike, just as she has always fought with her brothers. And
Robin, the daughter-in-law, realizes she has made a decision.

The stories of each of these well-developed characters are absorbing,
if at times unnecessarily fragmented. Simpson demonstrates a gift for
the telling detail (e.g., “[a] motorboat was unzipping [the lake],”
and her novel is brought to a satisfying conclusion.