May Bookclub Pick: Leeway Cottage by Beth Gutcheon

Our book club pick for May was Leeway Cottage, a story of a family before, during and after World War 2. Annabelle Sydney Brant grew up summering in Dundee, Maine and was a privileged child. When her father dies, she is left with only her mother, a woman who is overbearing and impossible to please. When she turns 18, Sydney runs away to Manhattan to pursue a singing career and it is there that she meets the famous Danish pianist, Laurus Moss. The two fall in love and are married but before they can settle too completely into married life, the world is upended by WW2. Feeling impotent and fearing for his family, Laurus leaves the US to help lead the Danish resistance from London. During the separation, Sydney gives birth to their first child, Eleanor, and continues to live her life, partying with friends, summering in Dundee and increasingly indifferent to the war, while in Europe, Laurus’ family escapes Denmark for Sweden. Despite their differences, the time apart doesn’t seem to estrange Laurus and Sydney; their relationship survives and even flourishes. Post war, their lives pick back up where they left off – wintering in Manhattan and summering in Dundee. I enjoyed seeing the progression of Sydney’s character throughout the book; she matures from the young, pampered Annabee, to the hippie Sydney, to the young mother; and all the while, clashing with her mother, Candice. Yet, perhaps not surprisingly, as Sydney ages, she becomes more and more like her mother and seems unable to stop herself. This novel also explores deeply the Danish resitstance to the Nazi occupation and I, for one, was amazed at what they were able to accomplish; due to their actions, the Danish people were able to save all but 500 of the Jews living in Denmark during the war.