Montauk: A Novel

For three months, this humble fishing village will serve as the playground for New York City’s wealthy elite. For Beatrice Bordeaux, a college educated farm girl from rural Pennsylvania, her focus is reconnecting with her banker husband Harry. Instead, she’ll be spending twelve weeks sequestered with other high society wives at The Montauk Manor - a two-hundred room seaside hotel - while her husband dallies in his “extra-curricular activities.”

As Bea drifts further from the Manhattanites and towards Montauk’s natural beauty and community spirit, she finds herself drawn to a man nothing like her husband. Finally able to feel her original self emerging, Bea is alive once again... But those moments may be fleeting as fate conspires to tear her whole world apart.

• ISBN10: 1250200113
• ISBN13: 9781250200112
• Publish Date: 1 July 2019
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 4 April 2022
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: St Martin's Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[pagesbycyndy]

My Review Of

Montauk

Enter into the world of 1938 where women in society were as successful only as their husbands were. A world of yesteryear when Montauk was just starting to become more than a fishing town. Montauk is where the very elite and snobbish Park Avenue families went to spend the summer, that is the ladies and children did during the week while the men, ahem.... worked, in the city all week and joined their families on weekends.
This book reads like a historical romance with some women's rights issues thrown in as well as briefly touching on the horrible ant-semitism of that particular era.

We meet Bea, a college educated, raised modestly country girl in Pennsylvania who lost her brother Charlie in a tragic accident when she was 15. Bea is not comfortable in this world and I love how Bea constantly stands up to the ladies who tennis and lunch. Bea quickly makes friends with Dolly, a woman ahead of her times, a bit loose,somewhat brash but a true friend when Bea needs her. Now let's talk about Bea's faithless cad of a husband Harry, selfish, drinks too much and womanizes whomever he wants because after all Harry feels that this is his right. Dolly shows Bea the ropes and how to pretend to fit in with these snobbish boring women. Bea becomes entangled in the lives of the locals and enters into a forbidden relationship with a mysterious man who seems just a bit familiar to her.

I loved how Bea becomes a woman in her own right, finds her voice and rallies against all that she is supposed to be in this era. While Harry was a horrible husband to Bea, somehow I just coud not bring myself to dislike him, I actually pitied him. This is a very well written historical romance with a lot of drama, a bit of intrigue and just full of scandal and secrets. All of this set against the beautiful backdrop of Montauk's yesteryear.This review was originally posted on Fictional Reviewer

[chymerra]

Montauk is the story of Beatrice. Beatrice is a country girl who married into wealth. At first happy in her marriage, Bea notices a rift in her marriage. Along with the rift, Bea has failed to conceive a child and that drives them further apart. So when Harry tells Bea that they will be taking a summer-long trip to Montauk Manor, she is thrilled. She thinks that they can grow close again and a child will happen. But that isn’t in the cards. Harry decides that he will work in the city while Bea stays at the Manor during the week. He’ll come and visit on the weekend. Feeling out of place, Bea strikes up a friendship with the manor’s laundress. Who in turn introduces her to Thomas, the head lightkeeper. As Bea’s feelings for Thomas grows, she realizes that she must make a choice. What will happen? What will Bea’s choice be? And can she survive the consequences?

I wasn’t sure if I was going to like Montauk when I read the blurb. To me, it screamed spoiled rich girl has an affair and there are consequences. Then I started reading. And let me tell you, this book is anything than what I thought. I was surprised by this book.

I liked Bea even if she did annoy me during parts of the book. I liked her determination to make her marriage work. I liked that she didn’t care what the other women at the Manor thought about her. But, like I mentioned at the beginning of the paragraph, she annoyed me. She overstepped her bounds when it came to Elizabeth and Thomas. She let the other women in the Manor dictate what she should do the first half of the book. And the big thing, she didn’t confront Harry about his affairs until the end of the book.

I did figure out about Harry cheating early in the book. He was in love with Bea but he was chomping at the bit to get back to Manhattan. When it was validated, I was surprised that Bea didn’t say something to him. But, that was how it was back then. Men could do whatever they wanted with whomever they wanted and the women took it.

I was surprised when the author chose to have Bea and Thomas start a relationship while married. While two wrongs don’t make a right, I do think that Bea deserved to be happy. And Thomas made her happy. But she was torn between Harry and Thomas. I was on pins and needles about who she was going to choose.

You will need tissues when reading the end of the book. I was surprised at what happened between Harry and Bea. Very surprised. I was also surprised by the news that Bea had. I mentally went “Yikes, how is she going to deal with THAT“. The very end of the book had me sobbing. Let’s say that it was not a happy ending. Which was surprising and refreshing.

I would give Montauk an Adult rating. There is sex (not graphic). There is mild language. There is violence. There are triggers. They would be the death of a sibling, depression, cheating, and rape. I would recommend that no one under the age of 21 read this book.

I would reread Montauk. I would also recommend this book to family and friends.