"Sequel to PLACES BY THE SEA is poignant journey of self-discovery."

Rita Blair-Robbins, first introduced to us in PLACES BY THE SEA, is now the proud, if beleaguered, mother of twin toddlers. When Doc Hastings, Martha Vineyard's caring and staid physician, asks her to counsel and guide three very distinct women, each in a different stage of breast cancer, she unwillingly finds herself rising to the challenge. If Rita succeeds, then a mysterious benefactor will donate funds for a complete Women's Wellness Center for the island. If she fails, it's more than a building that will be lost to the island and the world beyond.

So Rita acts as mentor and mediator of: Katie, the vibrant teen rock sensation, who's heir to her mother's once-great singing career and her family's ghosts; Hannah, a middle- aged homemaker and schoolteacher, who feels abandoned by her family and friends and whose demons and long-lost dreams return to haunt her; and Faye, a still-vibrant matron and wealthy marketing executive, who's already done battle with the disease once before and has much more to lose than just her life. These women, whose trials and tribulations, like the salt-withered leaves of the roses that line the beaches all around them, stand fast. Defiantly they present blooming faces full of strength and light.

Along with Rita, who has to come to grips with her own past and startling new discoveries, these courageous women sweep the reader down paths filled with secrets, sorrows, joys and their ultimate victories. In this complex saga, they learn to cope with each other, their disease and, more importantly, with just who they are.

Fans of Ms. Stone need not have read PLACES BY THE SEA to enjoy and revel in this poignant, well-written journey of self-discovery. With great care and open-mindedness, this story brings to light the fight against that invisible monster looming in the deep recesses of women's minds - breast cancer. That everything "comes up roses" in the end is a little idealistic. However, this novel shouts and cheers the soul on with hope, light and courage. This is one book that won't sit like driftwood on a deserted island, but will bloom in readers' hearts for years to come.

Reviewed by Anne Barringer
Courtesy Old Book Barn Gazette
Posted April 9, 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....