"poignant drama"

An anonymous benefactor is willing to contribute to a wellness center if the residents of Martha's Vineyard show they want it. Doctor Hastings comes up with the idea of a breast cancer support group to show how much the center is needed and asks Rita Blair-Rollins to be the head of it. She reluctantly agrees because she wants what is best to help see her three charges through their ordeals.

Katie is a teen-age rock star who won't start treatment until she gives birth to her baby; her father, who molded her career, doesn't want to recognize his daughter's different priorities. Hannah, has to emotionally support her weak husband and wild fifteen-year old daughter while she is undergoing chemotherapy. Faye, a Boston businesswoman, thinks she has nothing to live for now that her cancer has reoccurred. These four women share their trials and triumphs and in the process form a bond that can never be broken.

If the audience seeks a happily ever ending, BEACH ROSES is not the book to read. However, the plot provides courage and hope when survival seems dimmer than a black hole. These intrepid women cannot ignore their troubles, but find faith with one another and some other caring friends. Jean Stone writes a poignant drama that focuses on human triumph during the most traumatic faults and frailties.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted March 25, 2003

No one captures the tide of a woman's heart quite like Jean Stone in her highly acclaimed novels set on New England's celebrated island, Martha's Vineyard.

This new novel brings back one of the author's most memorable characters, Rita Blair-Rollins. Rita reluctantly meets three courageous women whose struggles ultimately change her life and reveal startling truths about the people and places she only thought she knew....

Summary

Lifelong Vineyarder Rita Blair-Rollins is more than a little surprised at old Doc Hastings's proposal. A former waitress, summer cottage housekeeper, and real-estate saleswoman, now the harried mother of rambunctious twin toddlers, daughter of a cantankerous mother, and wife of a saint, Rita thinks she is far from the perfect role model to head a breast cancer support group. But Doc Hastings needs her-her help could result in a much-needed women's center for the island. Rita sets aside her hectic life and plunges into a world of secrets, lies, and hope, where even her own past cannot stay hidden long.

The women begin as strangers: Katie, the vibrant, violet- eyed rock star who must choose between saving her own life and the life of her unborn child; Hannah, the selfless housewife who finds herself abandoned by her friends just when she needs them most; and Faye, the wealthy marketing executive who thought she'd already survived the greatest fight of her life.

Before the summer ends, these women will form a lasting bond. For Rita, it will be a season of bittersweet discovery-a summer when old hurts are finally healed and love becomes rekindled as life begins anew....