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by Peter Nichols
Set against dramatic Mediterranean Sea views and lush olive groves, The Rocks opens with a confrontation and a secret: What was the mysterious, catastrophic event that drove two honeymooners apart so suddenly and absolutely in 1948 that they never spoke again despite living on the same island for sixty more years? And how did their history shape the Romeo and Juliet–like romance of their (unrelated) children decades later? Centered around a popular seaside resort club and its community, The Rocks is a double love story that begins with a mystery, then moves backward in time, era by era, to unravel what really happened decades earlier.
Peter Nichols writes with a pervading, soulful wisdom and self-knowing humor, and captures perfectly this world of glamorous, complicated, misbehaving types with all their sophisticated flaws and genuine longing. The result is a bittersweet, intelligent, and romantic novel about how powerful the perceived truth can be - as a bond, and as a barrier - even if it's not really the whole story; and how one misunderstanding can echo irreparably through decades.
"Starred Review. Nichols has conjured the perfect beach read… The two central stories engage the readers' sympathies and emotions, while Nichols colors in the background with the indelible imagery of the wind-swept Mediterranean." – Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. A literary island vacation with a worldly, wonderfully salacious storyteller." - Kirkus
"This page-turner will transport readers to the sunny community of expats at a glamorous seaside resort, where mystery, love, and family legacy are all fiercely intertwined." - Harper's Bazaar
"A beautifully crafted love story set against an idyllic backdrop of ocean breezes and lemon groves. Nichols expertly weaves a tale that stretches across decades and generations, giving us a unique and unforgettable cast of characters." - J. Courtney Sullivan, author of Maine
"A wondrous novel. The Rocks is clearly the odyssey Peter Nichols was born to undertake." - Richard Russo
"A Mediterranean idyll, a family saga, a mystery. A love story that's as weird as real life, as rich and surprising and tender and affecting. The Rocks is all these things. Like Beautiful Ruins, it reminds me of all the reasons I read novels." - Jennifer Haigh, Pen/Hemmingway Award-winning author of Faith
This information about The Rocks was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Peter Nichols has worked in advertising and as a screenwriter, and a shepherd in Wales, and he has sailed alone across the Atlantic. He divides his time between Europe and the United States.
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