A whimsical, moving novel about a retirement home for literary legends who spar, conjure up new stories, and almost magically change the lives of the people around them.
Alfonse Carducci was a literary giant who lived his life to excess—lovers, alcohol, parties, and literary rivalries. But now he’s come to the Bar Harbor Home for the Elderly to spend the remainder of his days among kindred … kindred spirits: the publishing industry’s nearly gone but never forgotten greats. Only now, at the end of his life, does he comprehend the price of appeasing every desire, and the consequences of forsaking love to pursue greatness. For Alfonse has an unshakeable case of writer’s block that distresses him much more than his precarious health.
Set on the water in one of New England’s most beautiful locales, the Bar Harbor Home was established specifically for elderly writers needing a place to live out their golden years—or final days—in understated luxury and surrounded by congenial literary company. A faithful staff of nurses and orderlies surround the writers, and are drawn into their orbit, as they are forced to reckon with their own life stories. Among them are Cecibel Bringer, a young woman who knows first-hand the cost of chasing excess. A terrible accident destroyed her face and her sister in a split-second decision that Cecibel can never forgive, though she has tried to forget. Living quietly as an orderly, refusing to risk again the cost of love, Cecibel never anticipated the impact of meeting her favorite writer, Alfonse Carducci—or the effect he would have on her existence. In Cecibel, Alfonse finds a muse who returns him to the passion he thought he lost. As the words flow from him, weaving a tale taken up by the other residents of the Pen, Cecibel is reawakened to the idea of love and forgiveness.
As the edges between story and reality blur, a world within a world is created. It’s a place where the old are made young, the damaged are made whole, and anything is possible….
more
I really like the idea of this story about writers going to this retirement home in Bar Harbor Maine. This goes through the life of Alfonse Carducci who lived his life to excess with lovers, alcohol, parties literary rivalries. Some of the writers have writer’s block and being older they have health issues. I like how the writer’s recollect their life story with the good and the bad. This was very realistic.
A book within a book that weaves all the characters’ stories together beautifully. I didn’t want it to end.
Intelligent characters and very well-written
Unusual characters come together in a retirement home created by a highly regarded author for other famous authors and publishers. Its like the Algonquin Round Table. The story also revolves around attendants at the home. The repartee between the aged authors about their earlier lives and the novel they are writing together and the revelations thru the chapters they write are are stunning. Then there is another story line involving attendants at the home and their relationships with the residents.
enjoyable characters
a fun book with a few unexpected twists and turns.
A charming story with wonderful characters.
Predictable, some characters were just too good to be true…but a pleasant way to spend a wintry afternoon with a cup of joe and an easy read.
I absolutely loved this book! The characters are so endearing. The story within the story was a good angle. I haven’t enjoyed a book this much in quite some time.
Quirky novel of getting older and interacting with different generations.
In The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers (And Their Muses) Terri-Lynne DeFino has accomplished a remarkable feat by writing a story within a story. The residents of the Bar Harbor Retirement Home (endearingly refered to as “The Pen”) are all somehow connected with publishing. With the arrival of Alfonse Carducci, a literary genius, the creative impulse returns to two other residents, Olivia Peppernell and Raymond Switcher (aka Switch), perhaps the only residents able to compete with Carducci’s writing brilliance. A third party, Judith Arsenault, editor extraordinaire, takes on the transcription of the handwritten story the three authors conspire to secretly write, each taking a chapter in turn before passing it off to the next.
While all of this is going on, the real protagonist of the novel, Cecibel Bringer, an orderly at The Pen and total Alfonse Carducci fangirl works her job, a live-in position, becoming Carducci’s muse in the process. But Cecibel, the dedicated, well-loved orderly is haunted by the relentless demons of her past that resulted in the death of her sister and a horrific car accident that destroyed half of her face leaving her appearance that of part beauty, part monster. Add in the only other live-in employees, Sal, a loveable drag queen, and Fin, an ex-convict imprisoned as a teen for murdering the man who molested him, but who is a loving, gentle man, and the enigmatic Dr. Kintz, chief psychiatrist of The Pen and you’ve got a batch of fascinating, extraordinary characters.
DeFino has done a marvelous job of creating characters with depth – characters the reader comes to feel they know and care about. But what I found so astounding was the fact that the story the authors in the book are writing is also told as Cecibel reads each chapter after its completion before passing it to the next author. A whole other set of characters in a setting forty years prior to the one in which the “main” story takes place (1950s vs 1990s) come just as fully to life. Cecilia, Aldo, Enzo, Tressa – all the fictional characters created by the three authors in The Pen are as engaging and real for the reader as they are for Cecibel. Their story is equally compelling.
DeFino wove the two stories together seamlessly. As an author myself, I was most impressed by the fact that DeFino actually wrote the story “written” by the characters considered to be three of the world’s all time great authors. That story had to be amazing for this book to be believable. It took guts to even attempt that feat and DeFino pulled it off in fine style!
Bar Harbor Retirement home is filled with great writers and their love affairs. Together their write a story that keeps you wanting more of each character.
This was a great story with very interesting characters!
I found this to be a compelling book about formerly prominent people nearing the ends of their lives. The unique approach- with multiple writers telling one final story- was a very interesting way to move the story and compel one’s attention. Rather than being tragic, although there are sad elements, it was in part about these characters taking on an intellectual challenge one more time. Refreshing approach.
Great book club book
This was a wonderful book!
I loved this book. I wanted to send it to all my reader friends!
Entertaining original story.
“The Bar Harbour Retirement Home for Famous Writers (and their Muses): A Novel” by Terry-Lynne Delfino is a fun read. Set in a (sadly) fictional retirement home for aging authors, this novel features quirky characters, deft use of language, amusing insights into the creative process, and a clever “story within a story” plot that binds it all together. Recommended.
I enjoyed the play between the characters