''Fortune's Rocks'' is a 1999

romance novel A romance or romantic novel is a genre fiction novel that primarily focuses on the relationship and Romance (love), romantic love between two people, typically with an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending. Authors who have contributed ...

by bestselling author

Anita Shreve Anita Hale Shreve (October 7, 1946 – March 29, 2018) was an American writer, chiefly known for her novels. One of her first published stories, ''Past the Island, Drifting'' (published 1975), was awarded an O. Henry Prize in 1976. Early ...

. It is the first novel in Shreve's tetralogy to be set in a large beach house on the

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

coast that used to be a

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

. Chronologically, it is followed by ''

Sea Glass Sea glass are naturally weathered pieces of the glass, anthropogenic glass fragments of typically List of glassware#Drinkware, drinkwares, which often have the appearance of Tumble finishing, tumbled stones. Sea glass is physical weathering, phys ...

'', ''

The Pilot's Wife ''The Pilot's Wife : A Novel'' is a 1998 novel by Anita Shreve. It is chronologically the third novel in Shreve's informal trilogy to be set in a large beach house on the New Hampshire coast that used to be a convent. It is preceded by '' Fort ...

'' and ''

Body Surfing Bodysurfing is the sport of riding a wave without the assistance of any buoyant device such as a surfboard or bodyboard. Bodysurfers often equip themselves with a pair of swimfins that aid propulsion and help the bodysurfer catch, ride, and ki ...

''.

Plot

In the summer of 1899, Olympia Biddeford, a privileged, intelligent 15-year-old, and her parents have retired from the heat of Boston to the coastal resort of Fortune's Rocks. When the successful Dr. John Haskell is invited to stay, no one foresees the affair that is to follow between her and this 41-year-old man. Their passionate affair, and subsequent discovery, produce a son and leads to far-reaching consequences that span several decades. Olympia's son is taken from her immediately at birth, and despite attending a women's college she is miserable and only thinks of Haskell and her son, escaping back to the cottage at Fortune's Rocks. Here she learns of her son, Pierre Haskall, who is now three and adopted into a loving French family. In her pursuit of her child's custody, she employs Mr Tucker as a lawyer, yet realises when she wins the court case that she cannot bear to take a child from its adoptive mother. In the months that follow, Olympia transforms the Fortune's Rocks residence into a shelter for disadvantaged women, similar to her own experiences, and marries Haskell. In the ending, it is found that her son's adoptive parent has passed and she is to decide what happens to the child. The novel is loosely based on the seaside neighborhood of Fortunes Rocks, located in

Biddeford, Maine Biddeford ( ) is a city in York County, Maine, United States. It is the principal commercial center of York County. Its population was 22,552 at the 2020 census. The twin cities of Saco and Biddeford include the resort communities of Biddef ...

External links

Telling the timeless tale
An Interview with Anita Shreve about ''Fortune's Rocks''

American romance novels 1999 American novels Novels set in New Hampshire Fiction set in 1899 {{1990s-romance-novel-stub