Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Best of 2024 ezine!

Book Summary and Reviews of The Miracle on Monhegan Island by Elizabeth Kelly

The Miracle on Monhegan Island by Elizabeth Kelly

The Miracle on Monhegan Island

by Elizabeth Kelly

  • Critics' Consensus (0):
  • Published:
  • May 2016, 352 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

The best-selling, award-winning author of The Last Summer of the Camperdowns returns with another rollicking, summertime family saga.

When Spark - the rakish prodigal son - returns unannounced to the dilapidated family home on Maine's Monhegan Island, his arrival launches one unforgettable summer. During his absence, his gentle brother and shrewd, fork-tongued father Pastor Ragnar have been caring for Spark's son, Hally. A temperamental adolescent emboldened by tales of his father's mischief, Hally is careening through an identity crisis when he stuns his family by claiming to have had a spiritual vision. Though Spark is permanently dubious, Pastor Ragnar pounces on the chance to revitalize his flagging church. Hally is shoved into the spotlight and, in the frenzy that follows, this fragile family of fathers and sons is pushed to the brink.

Narrated in larger-than-life, crackling prose by the charismatic family dog, The Miracle on Monhegan Island is another uproarious and outrageous must-read summer blockbuster from Elizabeth Kelly.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. More terrific work from a writer who gets better with each book." - Kirkus

"Starred Review. While Kelly's multidimensional characters and descriptions - even the olfactory ones - are evocative and engaging, the winning element of this story is Ned's voice, which provides an entertaining perspective on a dog's life." - Publishers Weekly

"If you think your family is dysfunctional, you'll love the madcap Monahans. Their story is so memorable, touching and dog-eat-dog (sorry), it can only be told by a true insider." - Elisabeth Egan, author of A Window Opens

This information about The Miracle on Monhegan Island 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.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Elizabeth Kelly

Elizabeth Kelly is the best-selling author of Apologize, Apologize!, The Last Summer of the Camperdowns (finalist for the New England Society Book Award), and The Miracle on Monhegan Island. She lives in Merrickville, Ontario, with her husband, five dogs, and three cats.

More Author Information

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more literary fiction...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Becoming Madam Secretary
    Becoming Madam Secretary
    by Stephanie Dray
    Our First Impressions reviewers enjoyed reading about Frances Perkins, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's ...
  • Book Jacket: Everything We Never Had
    Everything We Never Had
    by Randy Ribay
    Francisco Maghabol has recently arrived in California from the Philippines, eager to earn money to ...
  • Book Jacket: There Are Rivers in the Sky
    There Are Rivers in the Sky
    by Elif Shafak
    Elif Shafak's novel There Are Rivers in the Sky follows three disparate individuals separated by ...
  • Book Jacket: The Missing Thread
    The Missing Thread
    by Daisy Dunn
    The fabric of ancient history is stitched heavily with stories of dramatic politics, conquest, and ...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
The Rose Arbor
by Rhys Bowen
An investigation into a girl's disappearance uncovers a mystery dating back to World War II in a haunting novel of suspense.
Book Jacket
In Our Midst
by Nancy Jensen
In Our Midst follows a German immigrant family’s fight for freedom after their internment post–Pearl Harbor.
Win This Book
Win My Darling Boy

My Darling Boy by John Dufresne

The story of of a man whose son collapses into addiction and vanishes into the chaotic netherworld of southern Florida.

Enter

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

D T the B O W the B

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.