Nine weeks after losing her husband, Charlotte escapes to a wooden houseboat where her shipmates are an aging blue-haired widow, an emotional seventeen-year-old, and the ugliest dog in literature. Gradually, a genuine friendship develops between the three women, united by the cramped quarters that confine them. Off the boat, Charlotte, an archeologist, joins a local excavation to uncover an ancient graveyard. Here she can indulge her passion for reconstructing the past, even as she tries to bury her own recent history. Beachcombing for a Shipwrecked God is Joe Coomer's best and most substantial novel to date. Throughout, Coomer's light touch and agile turn of phrase make this an unusually refreshing read. Trained as an archaeologist, Charlotte sifts through the debris of the past to discover truths for the present. Recently widowed, she flees Kentucky to escape her possessive in-laws. In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, she takes up residence (on a boat aptly named after Don Quixote's horse) with two other beleaguered but spunky women; her landlady is a trompe l'oeil artist with a tenuous hold on reality, and her cabin mate is an overweight adolescent with an abusive boyfriend. Together these three laugh, cry, and battle injustices. Reminiscent of Annie Proulx's The Shipping News (LJ 2/15/93), this story of personal regeneration amidst wise eccentrics is quirky but engaging. The actions of Charlotte's in-laws are sometimes extreme, but Coomer's forceful narrative makes them plausible. From the author of Dream House (LJ 3/1/92); recommended for most collections.?Albert E. Wilhelm, Tennessee Technological Univ., Cookeville Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. Three women share life on a small boat in the Portsmouth, New Hampshire, harbor in this lovely novel. Charlotte, the narrator, is a recent widow who flees her home in Kentucky to escape the smothering ministrations of her grieving, uncomprehending in-laws. Grace, who owns the boat, is an artist of trompe l'oeil murals; she has never recovered from the death of her husband, Sweet George, and walks the streets of Portsmouth talking to his spirit. Chloe is a sad, abandoned teenager, a dropout working a part-time job and looking for a reason to live. Charlotte's tentative steps at rebuilding her life are destroyed when her in-laws sue her for causing the death of their son. Grace has a mild stroke, and Chloe is impregnated by her abusive husband. As the detritus of their lives closes in on them, the women launch a desperate journey across open ocean to Prince Edward Island, hoping to visit the home of Anne of Green Gables. This is a very cinematic novel, with each scene drawn as realistically as one of Grace's murals. Highly recommended. George Needham “ Beachcombing for a Shipwrecked God is the kind of book I'm always hoping to find: a story so absorbing, with characters so convincing, that real life must be set aside while the pages fly. It is the proverbial Great Read, where you can't rest until the story's been told-- beautifully-- and all its secrets have been confided.” ― Elinor Lipman “As eccentric a collection of characters as you'll ever meet take up living together in a boat, and navigate the waters of their own literal and psychic histories. In this fine writer's hand, the lessons they learn are alternately hilarious and serious, drawn with a wise wit, compassionate eye, and intelligent heart.” ― Jonis Agee “This is a truly wonderful novel; humorous, but also profoundly moving. Its characters are so authentic and genuine they become an enduring presence off the page.” ― André Dubus III " Beachcombing for a Shipwrecked God is the kind of book I'm always hoping to find: a story so absorbing, with characters so convincing, that real life must be set aside while the pages fly. It is the proverbial Great Read, where you can't rest until the story's been told-- beautifully-- and all its secrets have been confided." --Elinor Lipman "As eccentric a collection of characters as you'll ever meet take up living together in a boat, and navigate the waters of their own literal and psychic histories. In this fine writer's hand, the lessons they learn are alternately hilarious and serious, drawn with a wise wit, compassionate eye, and intelligent heart."--Jonis Agee Nine weeks after losing her husband, Charlotte escapes to a wooden houseboat where her shipmates are an aging blue-haired widow, an emotional seventeen-year-old, and the ugliest dog in literature. Gradually, a genuine friendship develops between the three women, united by the cramped quarters that confine them. Off the boat, Charlotte, an archeologist, joins a local excavation to uncover an ancient graveyard. Here she can indulge her passion for reconstructing the past, even as she tries to bury her own recent history. Beachcombing for a Shipwrecked God is Joe Coomer's best and most substantial novel to date. Throughout, Coomer's light touch and agile turn of phrase make this an unusually ref