Firefly Beach [Mass Market Paperback]

Luanne Rice (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 29, 2001

Under the summer sky, anything is possible....

Author of the acclaimed novels Cloud Nine and Follow the Stars Home, Luanne Rice returns with another moving portrait of a family in crisis—as three sisters come face-to-face with the past and find in each other the courage to go on.

Coolly sophisticated and steadfastly single, Caroline Renwick has always been the sister everyone could count on. As she and Clea and Skye gathered at Firefly Hill, their childhood home, Caroline thought that they had all put the past behind them. But as summer gets under way, a mysterious man arrives—a man who has the power to bring it all back....

Joe Connor was only six when his father died at Firefly Hill. Though he and Caroline had never met, the five-year-old girl reached out to him. They became pen pals and friends, until a teenaged Joe finally learned the truth about what had happened to his father that night. Now, after years of silence, Joe is suddenly here ... and Caroline still feels a connection. But she can't help but wonder if this handsome man holds the key to her family's healing—or its destruction. And in his presence, how long will she be able to guard her heart?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rice (Follow the Stars Home; Dream Country) brings her signature sensitivity to this beautifully textured summertime read. Famed artist Hugh Renwick is an adulterous alcoholic who is touched by genius. Long after his death, his wife and three daughters struggle with his oversized legacy and the damage left in his wake. Skye, the youngest, drinks to numb the pain of an abusive marriage and to squelch the memories of a past mistake on a hunting trip with her father, she accidentally shot a man. Meanwhile, the eldest sister, Caroline, hides her vulnerability behind a shell of brittle competence. The family's delicate balance shifts forever when treasure salvager Joe Connor arranges a dive in the waters near their home. Linked to the Renwicks by a tragedy that occurred when he was just a child, Joe helps Skye get sober, melts the ice in Caroline's heart and heals his own scars in the process. As always, Rice excels at evoking the strong but contradictory emotions that both bind and divide families. In her capable hands, what could have been a superficial glitz-and-glamour story of affluence, death and fame rings with truth and warmth. With its crisp New England ambiance and delicate prose, her latest is a lovely celebration of sisterhood, summer and survival.

From Booklist

The daughters of hard-drinking, womanizing, Hemingwayesque artist Hugh Renwick are traumatized by two bloody deaths. When she was five years old, Caroline was standing next to the husband of Hugh's mistress when he shot himself. Intent on protecting his girls, Hugh taught them to hunt and fish, bringing about the second devastating death when Skye shot and killed a young man thinking he was a deer. Years later Skye, a talented sculptor, is an alcoholic and an abused wife. Caroline, who has never married, runs an inn that caters to an artsy crowd. Her life is turned upside down when Dr. Joe Conner, a treasure hunting oceanographer and the son of the man who committed suicide, turns up. As a girl she had felt a deep connection to him, and now they must struggle to make peace with the past. Rice, usually published in hardcover, does a masterful job of telling this powerful story of love and reconciliation. Diana Tixier Herald
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (May 29, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553573209
• ISBN-13: 978-0553573206
• Product Dimensions: 4.1 x 1.1 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,191,956 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

LUANNE RICE is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty-nine novels, most recently The Silver Boat. Her books, including Cloud Nine and Dream Country, often center on love, family, nature and the sea, and have been translated into twenty-four languages. A number of Rice's novels have been adapted for television, including Crazy in Love for TNT, Blue Moon for CBS, the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentations of Follow the Stars Home and Silver Bells, and Beach Girls as a summer drama series for Lifetime Television. She has contributed a theatrical piece to the new off Broadway play Motherhood Out Loud. Rice loves nature and frequently writes about it. Born in New Britain, Connecticut, Rice divides her time between New York City and Old Lyme, Connecticut, in the house where she spent all her childhood summers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wish I read this one first!, December 8, 2002

By 

Stephanie Anne "music & book nut" (Maine, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Firefly Beach (Mass Market Paperback)

In the past two years I've become a big Luanne Rice fan. Each of her books has bylines connecting it to another of her books. "Firefly Beach" ties in the charactes from the her others books, namely "Safe Harbor", "Follow the Stars Home" and "True Blue".

"Firefly Beach" sets the background information for the rest of the books she's written. It explores the life of the Renwicks, who are the focal point of Hubbard's Point and mentioned in the other stories. I actually think I enjoyed this book the most, as it most closely resembles my (lack of) love life!

This is classic Luanne; it will make you angry, happy and cry.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rich family loyalty and deep understanding., April 29, 2002

By 

Denise Bentley "Kelsana" (The California Redwoods) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Firefly Beach (Mass Market Paperback)

Caroline Renwick has been the strength that held her family together. The oldest of three daughters of a famous artist whose life was riddled by sadness and alcoholism, Caroline has been the foundation her mother could never be.

As a very young girl, a terrible tragedy has changed the direction of her life, and the person at the center of it is back on the scene. Will it spell trouble by dredging up old hate and angers not yet faced by those that have carried them for years like an old skin, uneasily shed? Will tragedy bring all of these characters closer?

This is a well written book that flows easily leaving you with likable characters that you can't help but wish the best for. I did enjoy the read though it is predictable. I already have another Rice book waiting in the eves to be read, titled BLUE MOON. Kelsana 4/29/02

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific Book!, July 20, 2001

By 

"lethe2" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Firefly Beach (Mass Market Paperback)

This is my first book by this author. It was wonderful. The author's exposition of the various characters was unusual in its depth. I read it too quickly - didn't want the story to end. The plot device of the letters between Caroline and Joe was so romantic and so very effective. This is a very special book. Read it!