Published 1st September 2022 by Aria Fiction.
From the cover of the book:
A gripping tale of family secrets, sibling rivalry and summer romance, set against the backdrop of New York's sizzling urban beach.Sisters Sophie and Celia haven't been on speaking terms for years. So it's a huge shock when they discover their grandmother has left them her quirky old house on Rockaway Beach, New York.
Just a stone's throw from the bright lights of Manhattan, they spent many idyllic summers there as children, swimming in the Atlantic ocean, playing in the sand and watching day trippers come and go. Then suddenly, the visits stopped. Sophie knows her mother and grandmother fell out, but has never found out why.
Together, the sisters return to Rockaway, and can't agree on anything. Sophie wants to keep the house, Celia's determined to sell. It seems they'll never see eye to eye, until Sophie makes a shattering discovery that forces her to question everything...
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Sisters Sophie and Celia have been estranged for years, but are thrown back together when their American grandmother unexpectedly leaves them her dilapidated beach-side home on the Rockaway Peninsula, New York. It is a long time since the sisters have been to this house, because their mother fell out with her parents when they were young, but it is filled with memories of summers spent swimming in the Atlantic Ocean and playing in the sand. For Sophie, this house holds tender memories of her grandmother Pampy and the holidays that became a refuge from her strict father, but for Celia who was the apple of their father's eye, this is a place that unsettles her and reminds her of a secret she has never shared with her sister.
Almost as soon as the sisters reunite they fall back into their well-worn roles as adversaries. There is a lot to sort out both inside and out of Piping Plover House, and both of them anticipate that the next few days are going to be rocky - especially since Sophie would dearly love to keep the house and Celia wants to sell it as soon as possible.
As the women sift through their grandmother's possessions, old rivalries and perceived injustices raise their ugly heads. Sophie thinks she may have discovered what caused their mother to break off relations with her parents, but it is not until Celia, in a moment of anger, drops the secret she has kept since childhood that Sophie is forced to rethink everything she thought she knew about their lives.
The House on Rockaway Beach is a rambling tale that delves into the impact of family secrets, and how the strain of keeping them can affect the generations that follow. Sisters Sophie and Celia have never seen eye to eye, and as adults have been content to maintain a distance between each other. As the story slowly unfurls through little clues left behind at Piping Plover House, and from conversations with some of the long-standing residents at Rockaway Beach, Burstall breaks up the flow with sharply poignant moments of clarity that help you understand how the past has never really given the sisters a chance to be close.
Burstall handles the dynamics of many of the family relationships in this story well, and I really enjoyed how the reunion of the sisters and the subsequent revelation of family secrets helps to break down the barriers that have built up between them. This brings in some very heartwarming moments of reconciliation at the conclusion of the book that leaves you with a feeling of hope for the future, which was lovely.
There are quite a few characters in this tale, and I liked how many of them contribute to how this story plays out. I did not know anything about Manhattan's beach-side resort of Rockaway Beach, and the characters give you a fascinating glimpse into the kind of life that people live here, and create the perfect atmosphere for a place that mixes big city life and holiday vibes. I loved Gigi's little family, and there is romance in the air too... but no spoilers here! Burstall also covers a lot of ground in the issues she touches upon, especially in the way they affect family life. There were times when I thought these could have been explored in a little more depth to enhance the emotional impact of the story, as they were sometimes resolved a little too neatly, but this does keep the story flowing at a fast pace and the pages certainly fly by.
This is a gentle and comforting book that fits the bill as a late summer read in an unconventional sea-side setting. Tuck yourself up with a cuppa and take yourself off to Rockaway Beach for a charming bit of escapism!
The House on Rockaway Beach is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.
Thank you to Aria Fiction for sending me a hardcover copy of this book in return for an honest review, and for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the author:
Emma Burstall was a newspaper journalist in Devon and Cornwall before becoming a full time author.
Tremarnock, the first novel in her series set in a delightful Cornish village, was published in 2015 and became a top-ten bestseller.
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