In a revelation of memory and unflinching insight, prompted by the death of her parents, author Deborah Joy Corey probes the complex bonds between family, lovers, and neighbors that shaped her sense of identity: then, as a girl growing up in rural New Brunswick, and now as a wife and mother living on the coast of Maine. With astonishing skill and delicacy, she weaves a story of faith and transcendence, of loyalty and regret, and shows us how––despite the passage of time and a world fraught with disillusion––wonder prevails and love sustains.
Islandport Press
Softcover, 232 pages
ISBN: 978-1-944762-18-6
REVIEWS:
“I adore Settling Twice. Deborah Joy Corey’s work is a singular joy to ingest.” - Andre Dubus III
“Settling Twice is a book of quiet reflection, of wistful regard, where revelations of a family offer us the whole life of a remarkable woman. It is a book to be grateful for.” - Patrick Lane
“Reading this glorious book is like reading a constellation of stars. Each element shines alone, but eventually a picture emerges—a profoundly moving story of a grieving daughter and the incandescent family who formed her...I felt this one in my bones.” - Monica Wood
“Deborah Joy Corey puts a whole universe on the head of a pin as she considers a woman’s many roles—mother, lover, wife, daughter, and sibling—and explores the loaded themes of creativity, sexuality, and spirituality in the harsh and beautiful world of coastal Maine. God is in these pages, which is something different and very damn interesting, in my opinion.” - Lee Smith
“Corey’s dance between contentment and an inner sense of “unsettlement” is almost unnerving, striking philosophical truths that ricochet off the page and deep into the reader, forcing them to weight their own journeys against the remembered and oft-misunderstood journeys of their parents. A tour de force.” - Lavanya Sankaran
“Settling Twice is like morning in Maine: lush, clear, suffused with grace of nature, uplifting and ardent and deep. Deborah Joy Corey captures with insight and wisdom the delicate and fierce bonds of family, history, memory, and place in her artful and soulful prose...” - Jane Mendelsohn