The Guest House

The Guest House

“
The Guest House
is a sweet breath of a Cape Cod summer, redolent with the scents of salt air, old houses, and the burning wood of a beach bonfire. Erika Marks creates an intoxicating blend of love, lost and found, and confronting the ghosts that lurk in our pasts. I highly recommend this beautiful story of growing up, growing older, building up walls, and knocking them down.”

—Karen White,
New York Times
bestselling author of
The Time Between

“A deftly woven tapestry of love, loss, and family loyalties. Erika Marks’s modern-day
Romeo
andJuliet
is pitch-perfect.”

—Wendy Wax, author of
While We Were Watching Downton Abbey

The Mermaid Collector

“An elegant and enchanting story about rescuing ourselves by saving each other, and a beautiful reminder of the magic and mystery we hold in our hearts.”

—Eleanor Brown,
New York Times
bestselling author of
The Weird Sisters

Written by today’s freshest new talents and selected by New American Library, NAL Accent novels touch on subjects close to a woman’s heart, from friendship to family to finding our place in the world. The Conversation Guides included in each book are intended to enrich the individual reading experience, as well as encourage us to explore these topics together—because books, and life, are meant for sharing.

Visit us online at www.penguin.com.

“Magical!
The Mermaid Collector
had me immediately transported to the windswept cove at Cradle Harbor, feeling the mist on my face and the sand under my feet—and looking for mermaids at every turn.”

—Sarah Jio, author of
The Violets of March
and
The Bungalow

“
The Mermaid Collector
sensitively explores the cost of untangling one’s deepest desires from self-deception. Marks skillfully navigates a course that wrecks most novels: recounting two stories—one historical, one modern—that are equally moving and compelling.”

—
RT Book Reviews

“
The Mermaid Collector
is an altogether enjoyable story . . . [that] is as lovely as the coastal Maine landscape it evokes. Recommended.”

—Devourer of Books

“Erika Marks is an author to be reckoned with, [as] she brings a small-town legend to life in this breathtaking novel. Ms. Marks brings the reader to a small town along the coast of Maine that seamlessly brings the past and present together in a wonderful tale about legends, faith, and hope.”

—Night Owl Reviews

“The town of Cradle Harbor is so vividly written that I am ready to pack my bags and move right in. . . . Through alternating sections set in different time periods (1887 and the present day), Erika Marks gives her readers a fully fleshed-out understanding of Cradle Harbor, its residents, and the historical events that inspired Cradle Harbor’s Mermaid Festival.”

—Literally Jen

“Marks expertly weaves the present day with the . . . past and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this book. I recommend it to those who enjoy women’s fiction and those who enjoy a touch of mysticism.”

—Bermuda Onion’s Weblog

Little Gale Gumbo

“Spicy, delicious, and filled with surprises,
Little Gale Gumbo
is a wonderful stew, a debut novel that will fill you with joy. Put it on your reading menu and enjoy!”

—Adriana Trigiani,
New York Times
bestselling author of
Don’t Sing at the Table

“A debut like this doesn’t come along often—this is women’s fiction to be savored . . . a winner.”

—
Library Journal
(starred review)

“Built on a roux of charm, intrigue, and family secrets, Erika Marks delivers a savory blend of romance and suspense, bringing New Orleans to Maine in a delectable debut novel.”

—Sally Koslow, author of
With Friends Like These

“Seamlessly shifting in time to reveal the layers of a mystery, this is a poignant story of an unforgettable family bound by secrets, fierce love, and a dash of voodoo. . . . Erika Marks is a shining new talent, and she has written a novel full of heart and grace.”

—Rae Meadows, author of
Mothers & Daughters

“I loved this novel like crazy. With its irresistible settings—from New Orleans to an island off the coast of Maine—unforgettable characters, and heartfelt exploration of love, family, and secrets, [this] is one of my favorite novels of the year.”

—Melissa Senate, author of
The Love Goddess’ Cooking School

“This story is simply sublime. . . . The story itself was gorgeous. The characters are complex and unique, and the sacrifices each one made for the other were heartbreaking.”

—Fresh Fiction

“Dahlia and Josie are rich, complex characters. . . . The plot pulls the reader right along, trying to figure out what really happened between the two men, as well as what might still happen for the sisters and their love interests . . . recommended.”

—Devourer of Books

“
Little Gale Gumbo
is written in the spirit of Adriana Trigiani’s bighearted family sagas. . . . The relationships are complex, substantial, fraught with complications and uneasy answers, but ultimately satisfying. . . . While food plays a central role in this novel, in the end the strength of the story is in how it portrays the healing love between broken hearts, the power of that love to heal in unexpected ways.”

—Reader Unboxed

Little Gale Gumbo

The Mermaid Collector

NAL Accent

Published by the Penguin Group

Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,

New York, New York 10014, USA

USA | Canada | UK | Ireland | Australia New Zealand | India | South Africa | China

Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

For more information about the Penguin Group visit penguin.com.

First published by NAL Accent, an imprint of New American Library,

a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Copyright © Erika Marks, 2013

Conversation Guide copyright © Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 2013

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA:

Marks, Erika.

The guest house/Erika Marks.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-1-101-61499-0

1. Man-woman relationships—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3613.A754525G83 2013

813'.6—dc23 2013003555

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

To my parents, my sister, and my brother, for time together, and the stories we will never tire of telling.

Harrisport, Massachusetts

July 1966

R
oad hog!” Edie Worthington yelled into a fresh cloud of exhaust that a speeding Mercedes Gullwing had left in its wake.

She stopped her ferocious pedaling long enough to shove back the sweaty red tendril that had been plaguing her the entire way back from the sandwich shop. If she’d had a pocketknife, she’d have pulled her bicycle over into the sandy shoulder and chopped off every last infuriating lock right then and there.

She gripped her handlebars and glared down at the bulging lunch bag in her basket, thinking that what she really wanted to do was line up every damn tuna sandwich in the middle of the road and ride over each one slowly, back and forth, until they were waffled with tire tracks and flat as pancakes.

Did those boys think she’d joined her father’s building crew so she could spend the entire time fetching their damn lunch and picking up their bent nails like some kind of steel-toed maid? Her father had warned her it wouldn’t be easy being the only girl on a five-man crew, but she’d insisted that she wanted to be a builder. It had been a dream since she was six years old. While every other little girl in Harrisport had been dressing baby dolls and pouring pretend tea, she’d been fighting the boys for a turn with Lincoln Logs. But how was she supposed to learn anything if all they ever let her do was organize drill bits?

It hadn’t helped, of course, that this job was one of the biggest they’d ever had: building the guest house for Garrison Moss and his prickly wife, Lois. The Mosses were wash-ashores from North Carolina who’d partnered with a firm in Boston and found themselves smitten with the Cape after their first visit five years earlier. They had one son named Tucker, a few years older than she was; Edie had seen him in town the summer before and sized him up from afar, as she did with all summer people, especially those who paid for their Cokes with twenty-dollar bills.

Another car sped by; she reached up and pulled hard on the brim of her straw hat to secure it. Now the turn to the private dirt road was in sight. Birch Drive. Finally. She’d get off the main road and be bathed in shade, left to ride in peace and quiet for the remainder of her trip.

And maybe, just maybe, she wouldn’t deliver pancakes when she got there.