The Language of Sand

March 29, 2010
Block (The Lightning Rule
) explores in her quaint latest the notion of how losing oneself in a new adventure can help heal wounds. After Abigail Harker's husband and four-year-old son are killed when their suburban Boston home burns down, she moves to a place her husband treasured, Chapel Isle, N.C., leaving behind her beloved job as a lexicographer to become caretaker of a defunct lighthouse. Her living quarters are a shambles (and possibly haunted), and as she fixes up her digs and makes friends with the (naturally) colorful locals, Abigail finds a way through grief and toward a less fussy self. Block writes gracefully about heartache and the mending of an injured soul, and the smalltown backdrop is pleasant without being kitschy.

March 15, 2010
After the tragic death of her husband and son, Abigail Harker leaves her career as a lexicographer in Boston to become the caretaker of an old lighthouse on an island off the coast of North Carolina. Arriving on Chapel Isle in the off-season, Abigail imagines she will find peace and solitude while coming to know the island her late husband loved as a child. However, things are not quite as she imagines. The quaint lighthouse turns out to be a dilapidated wreck with a sordid past; the ambience proves to be both prickly and mysterious; and her memories of the life she left behind follow Abigail everywhere. At times melancholy but mostly life-affirming, The Language of Sand brings the island community to life in this book-club-friendly read that will have readers itching for a sequel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)