The Bench: Above Boothbay

Rachel comes home to Boothbay Harbor to find the bench, a site of childhood happiness and dreams, denied to her even as she struggles with the reality of her mother's illness. She lashes out at the tired, old soldier who has moved into Holmes Cottage and has fenced the bench from the people who visit and live in the Harbor. In no way can she foresee the paths of despair, guilt, hope, and love that will mingle when her angry visits to the cottage become a need to help and to find help. The soldier, William, takes her back to days of college and the Korean War, of responsibility, pride, and loss. And Rachel tells of her father, whose life moves on while her mother slips into a world alone. And from the West comes Stephen, who knows neither the old soldier nor the young woman, but in Boothbay Harbor will learn the secret of his past and discover the center of his future.