Powerful and immersive, Westerly is an extraordinary novel about the secrets we carry, the burdens they cause, and the redeeming power of love. As Faye and her daughters make choices that are complicated and have profound consequences, Bernhard reveals with stunning prose why we strive to endure, to change, and ultimately to heal. An utterly beautiful achievement. Marjan Kamali, New York Times bestselling author of The Lion Women of Tehran
What if the secrets that kept us safe also kept us apart? In this luminous novel, Susan Bernhard traces the echoes of an unspoken trauma from the wild Irish coast to a secluded inlet in Maine, where three generations of women strive to build new lives among old silences. Westerly is a portrait of family in all its fragility and gracea story that will break your heart, then leave it wiser. Janet Rich Edwards, author of Canticle
Westerly is a sweeping portrait of how one womans lie multiplies through time. Mother to daughter, secrets beget secrets in a spiraling cascade destined to unravel. Each family member must question who they areand find the courage to become their true selves. Written in Bernhards luminous prose, Westerly will live in your heart long after the final page. Tess Callahan, author of Dawnland and April & Oliver
A sweeping novel carrying the reader from one edge of the Atlantic to the other, from one generation to the next, at an extraordinary time in world historyalive with all the secrets, beautiful landscape, and depth of character a reader could want. Ben Shattuck, author of The History of Sound
Spanning three generations, from the windswept shores of Ireland to the craggy coastline of Maine, Bernhard weaves an unforgettable tale of identity, loss, and love. Featuring an indelible sisterhood of characters, Westerly is about what we avoid and what we run toward in our quest to discover who we really are. A masterwork of storytelling. I loved every page. Katherine A. Sherbrooke, author of Leaving Coys Hill and The Hidden Life of Aster Kelly
In a story packed with as much secrecy as love, Westerly follows two generations of women as they move from war-torn Germany to an Irish village to mid-coast Maine across five decades. But the larger journey is one of learning to share our livesour past and present truthswith those who are supposed to know us best, and trusting that they will still love us. An absolutely beautiful story of choosing honesty and forgiveness over secrets and shame. Heather Aimee ONeill
Westerly moves effortlessly across decades and continents, its shifting timelines and landscapes rendered with such control that each setting feels both vivid and haunted at once. Bernhards keenly observed characters and compelling prose make this story of secrets, sisterhood, and survival into a warm, deeply felt, immersive read. Caoilinn Hughes, author of The Alternatives and Orchid & the Wasp
In a story packed with as much secrecy as love, Westerly follows two generations of women as they move from war-torn Germany to an Irish village to mid-coast Maine across five decades. But the larger journey is one of learning to share our livesour past and present truthswith those who are supposed to know us best, and trusting that they will still love us. An absolutely beautiful story of choosing honesty and forgiveness over secrets and shame. Heather Aimee ONeill, bestselling author of The Irish Goodbye
