Katherine Towler

This second of a trilogy about life on the small Snow Island (probably the real life Prudence Island) off the RI coast confusingly (to me) advances in time and leave behind the characters that populated the first novel. However, island life deepens convincingly for Rachel Shattuck, who returns from a divorce and to care for her father, who she has always seen as a difficult villain in her family, when her mother dies and her father is injured. She becomes the teacher for the island's one-room schoolhouse and plunges into her late mother's journals, which reveal a very different reality than what Rachel saw growing up. It's very well written and perhaps even meatier than the first novel Snow Island.… (meer)

This first of a trilogy was written almost 20 years ago, about events leading up to WW II, and somehow it shows its age while remaining an enjoyable read, especially if you love books about island life. Snow Island is offshore from Bristol, RI, and only a few people are year-rounders. When Alice's father, a quahogger, drowns at sea, the community sets up her mother as the proprietor of the island store and the postmistress. Her mother is portrayed as a weak and silly woman, without the urgency to care for her family, and Alice, even before graduating from high school in a class of three, has to be the adult. She becomes involved with three island men, but the loneliness of Snow Island and its few inhabitants, and the perpetual snobbery of the wealthy summer folk, lack drama. Still, one must read on and find out how it all turns out.… (meer)