Product Description

Anita Diamant whose rich portrayal of the biblical world of women illuminated her acclaimed international bestseller The Red Tent, now crafts a moving novel of contemporary female friendship.

Good Harbor is the long stretch of Cape Ann beach where two women friends walk and talk, sharing their personal histories and learning life's lessons from each other. Kathleen Levine, a longtime resident of Gloucester, Massachusetts, is maternal and steady, a devoted children's librarian, a convert to Judaism, and mother to two grown sons. When her serene life is thrown into turmoil by a diagnosis of breast cancer at fifty-nine, painful past secrets emerge and she desperately needs a friend. Forty-two-year-old Joyce Tabachnik is a sharp-witted freelance writer who is also at a fragile point in her life. She's come to Gloucester to follow her literary aspirations, but realizes that her husband and young daughter are becoming increasingly distant. Together, Kathleen and Joyce forge a once-in-a-lifetime bond and help each other to confront scars left by old emotional wounds.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #119094 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-17
• Released on: 2002-09-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Amazon.com Review
Given the breadth of Anita Diamant's bestselling biblical epic, The Red Tent, it seems natural that her second novel has a much closer focus. Set in the small Massachusetts fishing town of Gloucester, Good Harbor is a slow-paced study of female friendship. Here Diamant can luxuriate in the development of just two principal characters: 59-year-old Kathleen Levine, a children's librarian who is undergoing radiation therapy for breast cancer, and a 42-year-old romance novelist, Joyce Tabachnik, who has bought a summer retreat in Gloucester in the hope of finally writing a "serious" book. The two meet at temple after a service presided over by a newly hired female rabbi. (What joy it must have been for Diamant, who chronicled so much oppression of Hebrew women in The Red Tent, to casually include the presence of female clergy.) Kathleen has no real confidante aside from her husband, Buddy; Joyce is facing estrangement from both her business-minded husband, Frank, and her soccer-obsessed daughter, Nina. What the women are lacking, they find in each other. As their intimacy grows, Diamant sometimes tells us what we already know, breaking into a conversation, for example, to announce how well things are going ("They smiled at each other. They were going to be okay."). This is a moving story nonetheless--short on incident, but with carefully drawn characters and fluid, matter-of-fact prose. --Regina Marler

From Library Journal
A well-respected author who made news with her fiction debut, The Red Tent, Diamant draws a portrait of a friendship between women that weathers illness and infidelity. Kathleen Levine, a children's librarian in Cape Ann, MA, is 59 years old, married, and the mother of two grown sons. She is also suffering from breast cancer, which brings overwhelming solicitousness from others and countless stories of other women's illness. She is no stranger to the disease, having lived through her sister's death from breast cancer. Joyce Tabachnik is a journalist and pseudonymous romance novelist. Now 42, she is married and has a 12-year-old daughter who bristles at anything her parents say and do. The two Jewish women Joyce by birth, Kathleen by conversion meet at synagogue one Friday evening and begin a relationship that will take them up the Good Harbor beach in Gloucester for frequent walks and talks and through the momentous challenges and fears of their varied lives. Kathleen's ordeal with cancer, especially radiation treatment, rings true, and her honest, compassionate friendship with Joyce, who is doubting her own marriage and her ability to write, will touch readers as they recognize these women's frailties and strengths. Aside from a subplot concerning drug dealing that seems out of place, this is a wonderful story that most libraries should acquire.
- Bette-Lee Fox, "Library Journal"
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Diamant scored a surprise runaway best-seller with her first novel, The Red Tent (1997), a resonant fictional treatment of the biblical story of Dinah and her four mothers. Although Diamant's second book also focuses on women's relationships, it is set in the present in Cape Ann, Massachusetts, and tracks the developing friendship of 59-year-old Kathleen, a librarian, and 40-year-old Joyce, a romance novelist. Kathleen has just discovered that she has breast cancer and must undergo radiation treatments; her illness puts a strain on her family relationships and forces her to reexamine her faith. Joyce is somewhat embarrassed about her unexpected success after penning a romance novel; she is also worried about her increasing distance from her husband and adolescent daughter. As the two women walk the beach and share their travails, they form a deep bond. Diamant appears to be struggling with her material here, for after a while, the two women's heart-to-hearts begin to sound a lot like whining, and instead of feeling compassionate, readers are more likely to feel irritated. It seems the author may be experiencing the legendary sophomore slump, but that won't stop fans of The Red Tent from asking for this one. Expect demand--and quite a few disappointed readers. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

A Novel With Its Own Merit
When you are the renowned author of "The Red Tent," how do you top yourself? Unfortunately, "Good Harbor" was not able to do that. However, "Good Harbor" captured my attention and I was taken in about the story of a friendship.

Kathleen, recently diagnosed with breast cancer, meets Joyce, a romance writer. The friendship flourishes immediately as they enjoy walks together on Good Harbor. Through the walks, each woman feels safe in confiding with the other. There are many issues that "Good Harbor" addresses: cancer, religion, parenting, death, infidelity, and relationships.

Diamant is a master at setting the scene. She describes the beauty of Good Harbor and Kathleen's garden so precisely that the reader is able to create a mental image. This was the strongest feature in the novel.

"Good Harbor" is a novel with its own merit, however many will find it difficult not to compare it with "The Red Tent." I encourage readers to try "Good Harbor" and see a different side of Anita Diamant. I eagerly anticipate Diamant's future work.

What a refreshing read!
Ok, so it's not like her first book, "The Red Tent" ~~ but I didn't care as Diamant writes with her usual care and precision in telling a story. And I really enjoyed this book. I am not middle-aged yet, but I have always enjoyed reading a book that talks about friendship between two women. Having good friends of my own ~~ I really enjoy reading the friendship between Joyce and Kathleen. Joyce struggles with a marriage that seems to be heading for the rocks, a troubled relationship with her daughter and Kathleen struggles with her memories and guilt as she battles breast cancer. And when those two met ~~ they help each other heal. It's a wonderful journey through the pages watching how each of the woman grows into a delightful and more confident woman. It proves the old Biblical adage true ~~ one cannot walk through life alone.

I really enjoyed the different pace in the scenery. I love to take long walks and though I don't live near the ocean, whenever my girlfriends and I get together, sometimes our best conversations in life happens on a walk. There is something uplifting about walking with close friends ... and something totally relaxing. You can't hide confidents when you're relaxed. And I admire how Joyce and Kathleen would just call each other up and say, "Let's go for a walk." And in those walks, they confide into each other that they wouldn't confide to their husbands. Just like women everywhere.

If you like to read books about friendship and loyalty ~~ this is a good read. Diamant won't disappoint you with her writing. And you'll be lulled by the soft voices of women talking by the sea.

1-23-02

An Excellent Book - highly underrated
This book was an excellent, beautiful read.

Yes, it was a surprise because it was *very* different than "The Red Tent" (Anita Diamant's first work of fiction). Sometimes readers buy follow up books by authors they like expecting the same style and type of storytelling and are disappointed when the book is unlike the first. If the book were *worse* than "The Red Tent", I could see the criticism. But, it's not. It's just a different type of writing, a different type of story.

"Good Harbor" is a lovely story about two different women who come together and form a strong friendship in the midst of health problems, marital issues, and personal challenges. The setting is so beautiful that I wanted to travel to this sea-side town and try and find some of what the women found in the course of the book. I can't stress how much I enjoyed this book- and how I wish it didn't end.

"Good Harbor" reminds me a lot of Elizabeth Berg's books (my favorite author)- well written, poetic, heart-breaking, but not saccharine. If you want another "Red Tent", skip this. But if you are open to a new experience by an excellent writer, read this book.