These Granite Islands: A Novel [Paperback]

Sarah Stonich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 26, 2002

Now in paperback: one of the most highly acclaimed literary debuts of recent seasons--a tale of love, loss, and friendship that magically recalls one fateful Midwestern summer in 1936.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Stonich's rich debut is a romance in the best sense of the word: it's a tale of love and adventure set in a remote time. From her hospital bed, 99-year-old Isobel Howard recalls her unexpected friendship with Cathryn Malley, a childless, Chicago-born heiress who shunned her family, attended art school and married an Irishman with no pedigree. During the summer of 1936, the women find themselves alone in Cypress, a mining town on the edge of a glacier-fed lake in Minnesota. Isobel is the wife of a tailor, mother of three young children and a milliner by training whose husband, Victor, has taken their two boys away to an island he has purchased--an extravagance that has become a sore point in their marriage. Left behind with her quiet daughter, Louisa, Isobel revives her interest in hatmaking, and Cathryn helps her. During their shared days, Cathryn introduces Isobel to literature, art and a more cosmopolitan view of life, ultimately making Isobel an accomplice to the affair she is having with a local forest ranger. But there is a darker side to this idyll, and as the elderly Isobel reflects on the ensuing events, it is clear that this summer has exacted a heavy price. Sticklers for logic may question some turns of the story, and Stonich's prose, despite an eye for exquisite detail, occasionally succumbs to flights of lyrical fancy. But once past the unsteady opening chapters, the novel gains its footing and opens up into atmospherically rendered, carefully observed scenes. Stonich unfurls a complex, many-layered and suspenseful story; and, like Susan Minot and Anita Shreve, she handles flashbacks and contemporary details with equal precision. (Mar. 7)Forecast: Storich is a talented writer whose affecting novel is bound to create conversation--and to appeal to readers of serious women's fiction. With the push promised by the publisher (including a 3-city author tour), it could have legs.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Isobel Howard is 99 and has outlived her husband and two of her three children. As she lays dying in a St. Paul hospital, she has time to reflect on her long life: her childhood, her courtship and marriage, and her career as a milliner. She also remembers the summer of 1936 when wealthy, beautiful, sophisticated Cathryn Malley came to the northern Minnesota mining town. The most exotic friend Isobel had ever had, Cathryn was also deeply troubled. When Cathryn's passionate love affair with a local man ended in tragedy, Isobel was forced to examine her own standards of family, love, and fidelity. Isobel tells the story to her youngest son, thereby unburdening herself of the secrets of more than 60 years. Her tale interweaves threads from past and present. Narrator Melissa Hughes deftly varies Isobel's voice so the listener can keep the layers straight. A good choice for popular collections.
Nann Blaine Hilyard, Lake Villa Dist. Lib., IL
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Back Bay Books (March 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316815586
• ISBN-13: 978-0316815581
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,465,879 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sarah Stonich is the author of internationally acclaimed novels These Granite Islands, and The Ice Chorus, stories which have left their marks on readers around the world. The eagerly awaited paperpback version of The Ice Chorus is now available. Her memoir Shelter, is now out to rave reviews - visit sarahstonich.com for more

Here's an interview Sarah recently had with WritingRaw.com

WR: Please let us know who you are and how we might know you:

SS:I'm a late-late blooming writer. I thought I'd become a painter. Eventually I thought, writing... I'll try that. And I did, thinking that having a crazy mother sort of qualified me. I wrote very badly for a very long time while teaching myself how. My first book was "These Granite Islands" set in my home state of MN.

WR: Any news you would like to share concerning upcoming projects:

SS: I have a new book I really like which is a bit of a departure for me, a volume of interconnected stories, Vacationland. The main character is a crumbling resort - currently occupied by the immigrant builder's granddaughter - a 40-ish painter who's come "home" after her divorce. Various visitors to the place tell its history over a span of 40 years, weaving around the place with a just a degree or two of separation between each character. Vacationland is now with my agent. Just out is "Shelter" a memoir that follows my search for place from childhood to present as I build an off-the-grid retreat in the northwoods. After so many years of fiction, writing Shelter is making me feel a little undressed - in a good way - like a skinny dip into the past. I'm now writing American River - a family saga spanning three generations.

WR: Thoughts concerning the current state of the literary world?

SS: Aside from all the gnashing about the 'new book', the E-book, and how we will be reading, and on what sort of a device or page? People smarter than me are figuring that out. What sticks in my craw is the fallacy that short stories cannot succeed, when, yes, the fact is that short fiction cannot possibly when agents and publishers discourage the genre without a thought to the reader, the future, or the reader's ever-shrinking time to read novels. By the time my 22 year old son's generation are THE book consumers, Wally Lamb novels will be repurposed as doorstops, and big houses that haven't
embraced the genre will have hung by their own petards and lack of vision. Really. There should be an uprising against the naysayers of the short story. Let's kill them all. Or at least give them a good what-for.

WR: Who is your favorite author and why?

SS: I favor a sort of Frankenwriter a mutt - one with the composure of William Trevor, the raw intelligence of Nabokov, Dermot Healy's compassion, Ian McEwan's loyalty and obedience, Micheal Faber's toothy grin, the bark of Irvine Welsh, and Micheal Ondaatjes sense of smell. Super ugly, I might add.

WR: Have you written a book you love that you have not been able to publish?

SS: "Love's Tender Loins" An elbow to the ribs of the romance genre - the story of an unfulfilled housewife who pens and error-fraught historical romance - eventually realizing that her own life needs as much editing as her confused story. I co-wrote it with a friend and we sent it out sans agent on pink paper in heart-shaped boxes with Godiva chocolates. The editors ate up the chocolates. It smolders in a drawer somewhere.

WR:Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

SS: Getting a book published is a big deal - going on tour, seeing the first library editions - are all exciting, but I hadn't counted on the readers. A word or two from a reader approaches the thrill of getting a royalty check. Writing is a lonely business and sometimes even is a torturous uphill slog but an email or even a posted Amazon review from a reader is a real boost that reminds me why I do this - it can make a day - kipper tossed to a starving cat. I think readers are shy about writing - don't be. A reader sharing that something in a story touched or affected them or spoke in some way to their own experience is pretty humbling.

More at Sarahstonich.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Eloquent Life, March 25, 2001

By 

Matthew Lann-Smith (Atlanta, Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: These Granite Islands (Hardcover)

These Granite Islands is an eloquent and revealing portrait of a woman who has lived and rejoiced and suffered, and, perhaps most importantly, has learned ninety-nine years worth of life's lessons. As Isobel lay dying at the end of the century she has lived, she muses over one long-ago summer that changed her outlook and awakened her compassion and intelligance held in check. A poem buried in Isobel's subconcious (TS Eliot's "Marina")is slowly revealed to the reader, and to Isobel herself. The inclusion of this elegant poem parallels events in Isobel's life, defines them, and pays homage to the poet, reminding us that writers are by nature readers, living amongst a great wealth of words. The novel is a character study wrapped in a mystery and a heart-wrenching series of personal tragedies. This first novel by a talented new writer will surely succeed, assuring Ms. Stonich's place in contemporary fiction. This author's careful and precise use of language reminds me of earlier writers of similar tales; Virginia Wolff, Katherine Mansfield, and Edna Ferber (to whom the author respectfully nods, mentioning a similar story of fate versus free will). While this book will doubtless become a film, I say grab it read it well before that eventuality, for the emotional depth of this story cannot be portrayed on a screen in a few brief hours. If a few minor bits of the plot of These Granite Islands seem laid on rather thickly, the character development and very real dialoge redeem Stonich's lovely, memorable story. This is one to recommend.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous relationship drama, February 15, 2001

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: These Granite Islands (Hardcover)

Not quite a century old, Isobel Howard lies dying in a hospital room. Unable to mentally remain or perhaps refusing to stay in the present, Isobel reflects back to the pivotal point in her life, the summer of '36. She relates the drama of that year to her only surviving son who patiently awaits his mother's death.

That summer in Cypress, Minnesota, with her two sons away with their father on his island folly, Isobel and her daughter meets Chicago heiress Cathryn Malley. Cathryn's husband is also away on engineering business. On the bright side, Cathryn provides meaning and identity to Isobel's life beyond that of mother and wife by introducing her to the fine arts. On the other hand, Cathryn begins an affair with Jack Reese in which Isobel plays a reluctant, guilt-ridden middleman. Isobel hides what she knows from Cathryn's spouse who suspects his wife is cheating. Then one day, the lovers vanish as Jack's cabin burns to the ground haunting Isobel till her dying day.

THE GRANITE ISLANDS is a fabulous romantic relationship drama that seems like a well-written throw back to a time when romanticism meant something different. The story line starts a bit choppy, but once the flashbacks to 1936 get into gear, the plot is smooth sailing and worth the time. Fans of powerful emotional women's mainstream fiction with a historical bent will fully enjoy a strong character-based romantic tale that will make debut author Sarah Stonich a household name rather quickly.

Harrriet Klausner

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars grab this book, March 20, 2001

By 

Susan C. Prestwood (minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: These Granite Islands (Hardcover)

This story, set in Minnesota, tells the tale of an elderly woman at the end of her life. She drifts in and out of conversations with her son and her memories of a special, unforgettable summer. This author is a great storyteller and I didn't want this one to end. The characters, relationships and conflicts are mesmerizing and I felt I really wanted to know this old woman and talk to her. It is truly one of the best things I have read in a long time. I expect we will be hearing a lot about this book and whatever she writes next.