The Whispering Pines Inn — Cynthia Williams

In this book you will travel to a northern Michigan town that is still charming and rustic, and brilliantly captures lives that have been marked by loss, perseverance, an abiding faith and the love of friends and family as it sojourns between sentiment and satire. You will hear an unaccustomed rhythm in the voices of the Whispering Pines Inn as it is recounted here in loving detail. Poignant and funny, it will have you laughing out loud and sometimes crying. Cynthia Williams delivers an unforgettable story about an unforgettable boy and girl coming of age pre-World War II America and East Jordan Michigan along the shores of Lake Charlevoix and Lake Michigan. It's 1963 now, and Maggie inherits the ramshackle inn. Cynthia Williams gives her readers, and her characters, precisely what they crave--excitement, insight, joy, humor, hard reality, surprise, loyalty, hope and a sweet but uncompromising view of human nature. Passionate long-lost loves, war, hard times, a charismatic gypsy con artist one heart-pounding step ahead of the law, Louie's tour guide tailspin and thrilling triumph, a high spirited 4th of July parade, no questions asked smelt dipping, classic cars, uplifting fishing folklore, a tormented chef, wild escapades at a Venetian Festival, frantic adolescents and college students whose brazen and covert late night activities teach them the sobering features of young adulthood, quirky guests and locals with complicated but redeemable characters and Maggie and Burt, who stand in the center of it all. In Maggie and Burt we recognize the best and hardest aspects of youth, the fascination and fear of unrequited love, and our own first loves. The author leads her heroine and hero into adulthood while inspiring readers with deeply moving history, plot twists and inexhaustibly entertaining characters in a fantastically imagined world.