**I received a copy of this book from Goodreads First Reads in exchange for an honest review.**
Tired of their high school teaching jobs and discouraged by their failed attempts at conceiving a child, Mark and Fran Finley decide they need a change in their lives. Abruptly, they leave their friends and family in suburban New Jersey to begin anew as innkeepers on a secluded lake in the Adirondack Mountains. There they muddle through their first season at the inn, serving barely edible dinners to guests, stranding themselves in chest-deep snowdrifts, and somehow, miraculously, amid swarms of ravenous black flies, conceiving a child, a girl they name Nat. Years later, when Mark and Fran are nearing middle age and Nat is a troubled teenager, Mark's life is ripped apart, forever changed, and he must choose between returning to his old home in New Jersey or trying to rebuild what is left of his life and family in the place of his greatest joy and deepest sorrow.
I enjoyed the story the writer told, although not necessarily the way he told it. I would have preferred less description of the environment, and more stories about the family and their life. It seemed there were years which were completely skipped over, years where I am sure there could have been events to discuss.
Over all, a very realistic look at a family and the ups and downs of life.
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