Mary Ann Taylor-Hall – författare

A woman in trouble tries to change her life in a “beautifully written” novel about “the complex demands and joys and risks of all kinds of love” (Kim Edwards, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Memory Keeper’s Daughter).   Jo Sinclair, a single parent of four children, has fled an abusive relationship, winding up in Sea Cove, New Jersey, in front of The Breakers, a salty old hotel in the process of renovation. In this unlikely setting, Jo is intent on finding a way to renovate herself, to reclaim the promising life that was derailed by pregnancy when she was fourteen.   She impulsively convinces the owner to give her a job painting the rooms and settles in with her youngest child, thirteen-year-old Nick. A grand cast of characters wanders through this little world, among them Iris Zephyr, the hotel’s ninety-two-year-old permanent boarder; Charlie, a noble mixed breed dog; Wendy, Jo’s tough eighteen-year-old daughter, who has suffered most from her mother’s past mistakes; and Marco, the nearby gas station owner, who seems likely to become her mother’s next mistake. But soon Jo’s former teacher, a well-known and exuberant poet, arrives on the premises to stir everything up, including Jo’s yearning for a life of art and committed love.  At The Breakers is a deeply felt and beautifully written novel about forgiveness and reconciliation by the acclaimed author of Come and Go, Molly Snow. Its heroine, put through the fire, comes out with a chance for happiness—if she can muster the faith, courage, and optimism to take that chance.   “Incisive, witty prose.” —Kirkus Reviews

"Soon or a little too lateeverything you never knewyou always wanted turns uphereat The Breakers" -- from the book

In her new novel At The Breakers, Mary Ann Taylor-Hall, author of the widely praised and beloved Come and Go, Molly Snow, presents Jo Sinclair, a longtime single mother of four children. Fleeing an abusive relationship after a shocking attack, Jo finds herself in Sea Cove, New Jersey, in front of The Breakers, a salty old hotel in the process of renovation. Impulsively, she negotiates a job painting the guest rooms and settles in with her youngest child, thirteen-year-old Nick. As each room is transformed under brush and roller, Jo finds a way to renovate herself, reclaiming a promising life derailed by pregnancy and a forced marriage at age fourteen.

Jo''s new life at the hotel features a memorable mix of locals and guests, among them Iris Zephyr, the hotel''s ninety-two-year-old permanent boarder; Charlie, a noble mixed-breed dog; Marco, owner of a nearby gas station/liquor store, who may become Jo''s next mistake; and enigmatic Wendy, her streetwise eighteen-year-old daughter, who signs on as housekeeper. Irrepressible Victor Mangold, Jo''s former professor and a well-known poet some twenty years her senior, invites himself to Thanksgiving dinner and into her life, his passion awakening Jo''s yearning for art and love.

At The Breakers is a deeply felt and beautifully written novel about forgiveness and reconciliation. In Jo''s words, she is "trying to find the right way to live" as a long-suffering woman who is put through the fire and emerges with a chance at a full, rich life for herself and her children, if only she has the faith to take it.