In her novel At The Breakers, Mary Ann Taylor-Hall presents Jo
Sinclair, a longtime single mother of four children. Fleeing an abusive
relationship after a shocking attack, Jo finds herself in Sea Cove, New
Jersey, in front of The Breakers, a salty old hotel in the process of
renovation. Impulsively, she negotiates a job painting the guest rooms
and settles in with her youngest child, thirteen-year-old Nick. As each
room is transformed under brush and roller, Jo finds a way to renovate
herself, reclaiming a promising life derailed by pregnancy and a forced
marriage at age fourteen.
At The Breakers is a deeply felt and beautifully written novel about
forgiveness and reconciliation. In Jo's words, she is "trying to find
the right way to live" as a long-suffering woman who is put through the
fire and emerges with a chance at a full, rich life for herself and her
children, if only she has the faith to take it.