Peregrine Island: A Novel

by Diane B Saxton

Overview

Peregrine Island is the recipient of the following 10 literary awards:
2017 Winner of the New York City Big Book Award for Mystery
2017 Best Book Awards Finalist in General Fiction for Fiction, for Literary, and for Mystery & Suspense
2017 Winner of the National Indie Excellence Award for Regional Fiction: Northeast
2017 Distinguished Favorite in Literary Fiction by Independent Press Awards
2017 International Book Awards Finalist for Literary Fiction
2017 National Indie Excellence Award Finalist for Fiction
2017 Bronze Award for US Northeast Fiction from the Independent Publisher (IPPY) Book Awards
2018 Reader Views Literary Award Finalist and Honorable Mention for Adult - Fiction
2018 A Reader's Favorite literary fiction award winner
2018 Semifinalist, Somerset Award for Literary Fiction, Chanticleer International Book Awards

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Literary Mystery Highlights an Heirloom Painting on Long Island Sound and the Relationships between Three Generations of Women Part “who-done-it” and part family drama, this award-winning novel reveals that neither people nor paintings are always what they appear to be.
Contradictory relationships within troubled families are nothing new, but the award-winning psychological novel written by well-known journalist Diane B. Saxton elevates these relationships and the mysterious heirloom painting that both exposes and unites them to an art form.
Peregrine Island interweaves the stories of three generations of women, one valuable painting, the artist who created it, and those who would do anything to possess it – including kill.
Lush with sensory details, this psychologically complex mystery novel is set on a private island in the middle of Long Island Sound. It begins when the family’s lives are turned upside-down one summer by so-called art experts, who appear on the doorstep of their isolated home to appraise a favorite heirloom painting. When incriminating papers along with two other paintings are discovered behind the painting in question, the appraisal turns into a full-fledged investigation and detectives are called into the case—but not by the family whose members grow increasingly antagonistic toward one another.
During the course of the inquiry and as the summer progresses, the family members discover new secrets about one another and new facts about their past. Above all, they learn that neither people nor paintings can be taken at face value. The Peregrine family's lives are turned upside down one summer when so-called "art experts" appear on the doorstep of their Connecticut island home to appraise a favorite heirloom painting. When incriminating papers, as well as other paintings, are discovered behind the art work in question, the appraisal turns into a full-fledged investigation. Antagonism mounts between grandmother, mother, and child, who begin to suspect one another, as well as the shady newcomers in their midst, of foul play.
As the summer progresses and the Peregrines discover facts about their past in the course of the investigation, they learn that people―including them―are not always who they appear to be.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781631521515
Publisher:	She Writes Press
Publication date:	08/02/2016
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

As a journalist for Vanity Fair, The Huffington Post, Holiday Magazine, and Greenwich Review, Diane B. Saxton covered everything from torture victims to psychics, animal rights activists, exotic travel, and movie producers. A new chapter opened up for her after interviewing Amnesty International US founder Hannah Grunwald. Alarmed that the stories of incredible and influential lives such as Grunwald’s could be lost as the Greatest Generation passes, Saxton began capturing their histories and compiled them into a 1,000-page biographical collection, which became the inspiration for her next novel. She brings the same gift for storytelling with illuminating subtext to her debut novel, Peregrine Island. Saxton divides her time between New York City and the Berkshires, where she lives with her husband, dogs and horses.

Editorial Reviews

"With a roster of carefully crafted characters and a deftly woven plot, Peregrine Island is a riveting read from beginning to end and clearly showcases author Diane Saxton as a consummately skilled novelist. While highly recommended for community and academic library Literary Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that Peregrine Island is also available in a Kindle format."
—James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief, Midwest Book Review "Stay away from Peregrine Island, unless you want to be enchanted by a different kind of writer telling a different kind of story in a style that is as transporting as it is magical. I'd like to see Chloe Sevigny in the film version."
—Lewis B. Frumkes, author of Advice for Young Writers

“I was immediately captivated by the salt-drenched air and nuanced beauty of Peregrine Island. Inhabited by three generations of women—a spirited girl, a prodigal daughter, and a matriarch—haunted by a work of art, this story is reminiscent of the best of Daphne du Maurier. In lush prose, Diane B. Saxton reveals a family ripe with secrets on the cusp of discovering a tempestuous past. A lovely novel!”
—Katharine Davis, author of Capturing Paris, A Slender Thread and East Hope

“As the layers of mystery and history surrounding an heirloom painting are peeled back, a riveting drama fraught with accusations of greed and distrust, and laced with ripe passion, unfolds. Peregrine Island is told through the eyes of three generations of family members, silently bound by their unflinching gazes and ultimately tender insights on the meaning of love and family, reaching across time and space, stripped down to their essence on the raw, blustery shores of the Sound.”
—Ann Volkwein, author of The Arthur Avenue Cookbook and Chinatown New York

“A rich tale of lust and avarice, love and longing, Saxton’s novel is a beguiling page-turner. The story unfolds through the voices of its three related narrators, each with a unique temperament, each propelling the action to its mesmerizing conclusion. The book, at once a mystery and a love story, is nothing short of spellbinding.”
—Jean P. Moore, author of Water on the Moon

"Vanity Fair and Huffington Post journalist Saxton keeps the reader guessing until the novel's conclusion, which reveals the unexpected ways in which the two families are intertwined in the past as well as the present."
—Booklist

From the Publisher