The Book of the Mandolin Player

Meg Cross lives in a small Maine town with a family that is too big, too loud, too everything. Life in a small Maine town: where everyone is related by blood or marriage, where everyone knows everything there is to know about everyone else, and where there is no anonymity. So it seems for Meg Cross, living in an old farmhouse on the side of a mountain with her young niece, Maeve. It's easy to fall in line with her family's expectations, but easy, too, to resent them, when she's certain there's something more out there for her. Then tragedy strikes to the core of who and what she believes she is. How does a person remake a life from all the broken pieces? Meg finds herself forced to re-examine all she formerly found important, and in the process, comes to realize that though it might chafe, there is strength to be drawn from the place she comes from, and the people to whom she is truly known.