... the family at the center of Peaks Islander Eleanor Morse’s rather exquisite fourth novel finds that, even in the far reaches of Maine, it can be hard to hear grace notes above the roar of social turmoil ... With her roving point of view, Morse gives roughly equal time to each member of the household as everyone navigates the years, during which their interests evolve and their characters ossify ... It’s both a hallmark of Margreete’s Harbor and a feat of Morse’s daring that for all that’s going on in the larger world, not that much happens in and around Burnt Harbor. The odd catastrophe is averted. Events on the precipice of occurring—attendance at the March on Washington; a sexual assignation—lose their forward momentum for one reason or another. This gives Margreete’s Harbor its marvelous verisimilitude, although some readers may find it disappointing that the novel’s steady accretion of vignettes don’t add up to a traditional story line. For other readers, it will be enough that Margreete’s Harbor is shaped by the incendiary era that it’s submerged in, its quiet plot points sometimes turning on news items that lead to internal developments as earthshaking as the day’s headlines.

Eleanor Morse’s precise, patient prose captivates from page one ... Morse expertly plays with...perspective, showing how global events seep into every molecule of the family’s life ... Margreete’s Harbor is also a particularly tender portrait of a family faced with dementia ... Full of love, triumph and a boatload of heartbreak, Margreete’s Harbor is a celebration of life’s inevitable messiness. As after any good visit with family or dear friends, you will leave feeling satisfied while yearning for more.

There is nothing particularly special about this family or their experiences, but the book’s plot and circumstances are not what make it shine. Instead, it’s the literary quality of the story: Readers will be captivated by scenarios and dilemmas that seem familiar even if the details are different from their own lives. With engaging characters and lovely prose, Morse reminds us that it is the simple, everyday experiences that become treasured memories. And she fully captures what it means to be a family.

... excellent ... Think of the Sixties...the demand to speak out, question authority, and cast off restraints. Margreete’s Harbor embodies this deeper portrayal in a delicate, impressive, lived-in way. Novels that rely on famous Sixties people or moments to stoke their narratives fail to convince me, no matter how many icons they pile up. Rather, Morse depicts family members scrabbling to understand their time and one another, so how each responds, and why, reveals their inner lives and an era ... the characters in Margreete’s Harbor achieve a rare complexity, as they rise to the occasion one week and behave impossibly the next. Nobody has all the answers or a charmed life. You never feel an authorial hand shaping the action, or a voice speaking for a character. That’s how Morse achieves that lived-in feeling, which comes from the ground up ... If you remember the Sixties, Margreete’s Harbor will relive them with you. If you don’t remember them, you’ll taste their essence through exquisitely rendered relationships—and, no doubt, think of our time as well.

The mood is more sweetly nostalgic than brutal ... The few moments of dramatic tension—such as when that boy, Bernie, misses his bus and is stranded at a highway rest stop—are quickly resolved ... In trying so amiably to encompass so many people over such a long timeframe...author Eleanor Morse glides too blithely over major upheavals, personal as well as political. For instance, Harry and Liddie need only a few pleasant conversations to apparently resolve any doubts about uprooting their family from Michigan ... The most original voice is that of Margreete. Starting on the first page, her actions seem almost reasonable, until gradually the narrative meanders more and more off-kilter ... It’s okay to visit a tumultuous time without being overly dramatic. Still, the book could use a little more spice from Margreete and that farmer.

Morse’s engrossing new novel charts the transitions of a family set against the shifting social landscapes of 1960s America ... Morse weaves an entrancing tale that explores the intricacies of familial, social, and personal transformation and the lingering mystery of what may come.