Leeway Cottage

A Novel

by Beth Gutcheon
Elizabeth Marvel

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In this beautifully written tour de force of a novel, Beth Gutcheon takes readers back to the coastal village of Dundee, Maine. There, in a Victorian summer house called Leeway Cottage, we witness the scenes of a long 20th century marriage.

In April of 1940, a rich girl of the Dundee summer colony named Sydney Brant marries a gifted Danish pianist, Laurus Moss. But almost at once, their views of the world and their marriage begin to diverge. When Laurus chooses to leave Sydney in the fall of 1941 to help build a Danish Resistance from London, Sydney is dismayed. By the time they are reunited four years later, Laurus's family and the reader have been through one of the most stirring stories of the war, Denmark's courageous grass-roots rescue of virtually all 7000 of the country's Jews.

In the decades to come, many people, especially their three grown children, will wonder if these two very different people understand each other at all. If they do, how do they stay together? Laurus likes to claim that in heaven you get to see the movie of your life, with all the blanks filled in. In their old age Sydney fears what he might see and why he wants to know; their children fear he'll die and there won't be any movie.

But there will be.

Performed by Elizabeth Marvel

Creators
- Beth Gutcheon
  
  Author
- Elizabeth Marvel
  
  Narrator
Publisher

HarperAudio

Edition: Abridged
Release date

May 3, 2005
Formats
- OverDrive Listen audiobook
  - ISBN: 9780060845841
  - File size: 193308 KB
  - Duration: 06:42:43
Languages
- English
Reviews
- AudioFile Magazine
  
  Elizabeth Marvel captures the subtleties and humor of Gutcheon's fine novel of family and friendships. The guest book of Leeway Cottage, the Maine summer house that is the touchstone of several generations of the Brant family, follows the years from the '30s through WWII to the present. The entries of comments by guests center the swirl of events and characters--a useful device especially in this abridgment. Marvel is perceptive of the carefully honed balance of emotions of the characters and brings them alive with voice and cadence. Marvel's deft way with dialogue enhances the richness of the portraits. The men's voices are distinctive and serviceable, if not perfect, but the many Danish and German names are spoken fluidly. R.F.W. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine
- Publisher's Weekly
  
  February 28, 2005
  In this sprawling family epic, Gutcheon (More Than You Know
  ) chronicles how an unlikely marriage endures over the course of the 20th century. The novel is anchored in the idyllic, fictional summer colony of Dundee, Maine, which will always feel like home to Annabelle Sydney Brant, but turns on the story of the Danish resistance against the Nazis in WWII, a revolt Annabelle's Danish-born, half-Jewish husband, Laurus Moss, leaves the U.S. to join. Annabelle matures from the young, cosseted Annabee (coming-out parties in Cleveland, sailing in Maine) to the bohemian Sydney (voice lessons and a flat in New York City), clashing with her chilly, socialite mother, Candace, along the way. In New York, she meets Laurus, a pianist, and as they court, Hitler marches on Europe. When the Nazis invade Denmark in 1940, Laurus cannot rest idly with his homeland and family endangered, so joins the London-based Danish Resistance. During their separation, Sydney gives birth to the first of three children and Laurus's family escapes from Denmark to Sweden. The war and time apart change but don't estrange Laurus and Sydney, whose lasting union despite glaring differences puzzles observers: "Sydney and Laurus Moss were like a tiger and a zebra married to each other. What were
  those two doing together?" Charting a marriage against the backdrop of a tumultuous century, Gutcheon writes evocatively of love and war. Agent, Wendy Weil.
- AudioFile Magazine
  
  Beth Gutcheon has an elegiac style that envelopes readers entirely in the fictional worlds she creates. In LEEWAY COTTAGE, she takes us back to WWII--to the isolated world of America's moneyed Eastern establishment and to the front lines of the Danish Resistance. These two worlds collide in one complex, unhappy marriage between an American and a Dane. Susan Ericksen offers a lucid reading in a well-modulated voice that is easy to listen to. Admittedly, she has taken the stately quality of Gutcheon's writing a bit too much to heart; one wishes she had picked up the pace a bit. Nonetheless, she has a light, sure touch with the accents, giving just enough to make the dialogue scenes real. And the clarity of her narration is gratifying. This is a satisfying listen. A.C.S. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine
- Library Journal
  
  January 1, 2005
  Rich Sydney Brant marries Danish pianist Laurus Moss, who promptly heads home to help save Denmark's Jews from the Nazis. Not a match made in heaven, but it lasts.
  Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
- Library Journal
  
  May 1, 2005
  In Gutcheon's latest (after "More Than You Know"), Annabelle Sydney Brant grows up adored by her father and largely criticized by her mother. The best times of her life are spent in the family summer home, Leeway Cottage, in Dundee, ME. After her father's death, a miserable Sydney moves to New York City to study music in an act of rebellion against her mother's superficial lifestyle. There, she falls in love with Laurus Moss, a Danish pianist whom she eventually marries. When World War II breaks out, Laurus moves to London to help build the Danish Resistance and save Denmark's Jews from Nazi extermination. Meanwhile, Sydney gives birth to a daughter who, sadly, will not meet her father until the war is over. Though Sydney turns into a woman not unlike the mother she despises, her marriage endures. Gutcheon tells brave stories of the Danish people, including grim scenes set in concentration camps. A curious combination of a World War II historical/ summer house novel, this is a good old-fashioned, all-encompassing read, with tears and smiles guaranteed. Recommended for all public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 1/05.] -Keddy Ann Outlaw, Harris Cty. P.L., Houston
  Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
- Booklist
  
  March 15, 2005
  Gutcheon revisits Dundee, Maine, to create a Cinderella story with a different ending. Sydney Brant grows up in wealth and privilege, the apple of her father's eye. When he dies, she is left with her overbearing mother, who is impossible to please. Sydney escapes to Manhattan to be a singer, determined to live her life just the way she wants to. She meets Laurus Moss, a poor but gifted piano player from Copenhagen. They fall in love and marry, but World War II intervenes. Laurus, half-Jewish, goes to England to aid the Dutch underground, while Sydney stays home to have a baby and organize knitting groups. The horrors of the camps and his family's trials are mere annoyances to Sydney, whose world is all about sailboat races and children. Told against the backdrop of the amazing Danish Resistance and their protection of the Dutch Jews, Gutcheon's tale is more than just a story of a marriage; it's a metaphor for an era. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)