Margreete’s Harbor: A Novel

This is a wonderful book about a family coming together to help an aging parent, Margreete, although it is far from being the same old story about an aged person’s descent into senility. This story is fresh and new. The characters are all multi-faceted and realistically portrayed by Eleanor Morse, a very gifted storyteller.

The story takes place over ten years as the family is uprooted from Michigan to Maine, sacrificing their careers in order to sustain the ailing Margreete. She, however, has her own ideas about how she should live and tolerate the disruption in her home.

For anyone who grew up in the sixties and seventies, the historical events at the periphery of family life add a dimension of realism to the story. The mother of the family struggles with her creative desires as a working classical musician. The father’s idealism puts him at odds with the times in which he lives and challenges his children to live up to his ideals, even if he may fail in that regard. This is a wonderful book that transports readers into the heart of this family.