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Thursday, June 21, 2018

Spotlight: The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers (And Their Muses) by Terri-Lynne DeFino


Author: Terri-Lynne DeFino
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Date of publication: June 2018

A whimsical, moving novel about a retirement home for literary legends who spar, conjure up new stories, and almost magically change the lives of the people around them.

Alfonse Carducci was a literary giant who lived his life to excess—lovers, alcohol, parties, and literary rivalries. But now he’s come to the Bar Harbor Home for the Elderly to spend the remainder of his days among kindred spirits: the publishing industry’s nearly gone but never forgotten greats. Only now, at the end of his life, does he comprehend the price of appeasing every desire, and the consequences of forsaking love to pursue greatness. For Alfonse has an unshakeable case of writer’s block that distresses him much more than his precarious health.

Set on the water in one of New England’s most beautiful locales, the Bar Harbor Home was established specifically for elderly writers needing a place to live out their golden years—or final days—in understated luxury and surrounded by congenial literary company. A faithful staff of nurses and orderlies surround the writers, and are drawn into their orbit, as they are forced to reckon with their own life stories. Among them are Cecibel Bringer, a young woman who knows first-hand the cost of chasing excess. A terrible accident destroyed her face and her sister in a split-second decision that Cecibel can never forgive, though she has tried to forget. Living quietly as an orderly, refusing to risk again the cost of love, Cecibel never anticipated the impact of meeting her favorite writer, Alfonse Carducci—or the effect he would have on her existence. In Cecibel, Alfonse finds a muse who returns him to the passion he thought he lost. As the words flow from him, weaving a tale taken up by the other residents of the Pen, Cecibel is reawakened to the idea of love and forgiveness.

As the edges between story and reality blur, a world within a world is created. It’s a place where the old are made young, the damaged are made whole, and anything is possible….

Purchase Links

About Terri-Lynne DeFino

Terri-Lynne DeFino was born and raised in New Jersey, but escaped to the wilds of Connecticut, where she still lives with her husband and her cats. She spends most days in her loft, in her woodland cabin along the river, writing about people she’s never met. Other days, she can be found slaying monsters with her grandchildren. If you knock on her door, she’ll most likely be wearing a tiara. She’ll also invite you in and feed you, because you can take the Italian girl out of Jersey, but you can’t take the Jersey Italian out of the girl.

Find out more about Terri at her website.

Instagram Features

Tuesday, June 12th: Instagram: @theloudlibrarylady
Wednesday, June 13th: Instagram: @oddandbookish
Thursday, June 14th: Instagram: @notthepathtonarnia
Friday, June 15th: Instagram: @theliterarybirds
Saturday, June 16th: Instagram: @bookishconnoisseur
Monday, June 18th: Instagram: @ladyofthelibrary

Review Stops

Tuesday, June 12th: Bibliotica
Wednesday, June 13th: Kahakai Kitchen
Thursday, June 14th: A Chick Who Reads
Monday, June 18th: Eliot’s Eats
Tuesday, June 19th: Tina Says…
Wednesday, June 20th: Ms. Nose in a Book
Thursday, June 21st: From the TBR Pile
Friday, June 22nd: 5 Minutes For Books
Monday, June 25th: Wining Wife
Tuesday, June 26th: No More Grumpy Bookseller
Thursday, June 28th: Literary Quicksand


1 comment:

Heather J @ TLC Book Tours said...

Thanks for featuring this book for the tour!