The Orphans of Race Point by Patry Francis
Summary
When a horrific act of violence shatters the peaceful October night in Provincetown, Massachusetts, the fates of nine-year-olds Gus Silva and Hallie Costa become inextricably entwined. Told in alternating voices, The Orphans of Race Point traces their relationship over the next three decades as they try to come to terms with the past. What begins as a childhood friendship evolves into something stronger, but when a terrible tragedy exhumes the ghosts they thought they'd put to rest, their dreams are abruptly destroyed.
Hallie and Gus move forward to build separate lives, but Gus's hard-won peace is threatened when he meets a troubled woman who awakens memories of the childhood he has worked so hard to forget. Although helping her offers him a chance at the redemption he desperately desires, it will come at a devastating price. Turning around an unthinkable betrayal, this epic, all-consuming novel explores how far we will go for love, even if it means sacrificing everything—and in doing so, celebrates our capacity for faith, forgiveness, and hope.
Book Setting: Provincetown & Wellfleet, MA
Race Point Beach: Fight between Neil and Gus that changed everything, also where Wolf had his shack and Nick spent his dying days
St. Peter the Apostle Church: Hallie and Gus become closer as Gus talks about his past
Long Point Lighthouse: Hallie’s beacon as she climbed on her roof at night
Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater: Neil performed here and also where Gus, Neil and Ava’s life intersect
Herring Cove: Nick took Hallie to fish and Hallie brought minnows over to Gus after his mother’s tragic death
Beech Forest (Trail): Where Gus and Nick went for their blood brother ritual but Hallie followed
Reviews
"Stretching over more than three decades, it’s a gripping tale of stubborn love, the legacy of domestic violence, and the family secrets children keep. A noir element crops up, too.”
-Boston Globe
“Set against the coast of Provincetown, Patry Francis’s fierce, ravishing epic cuts deep to the bone about how love binds us together and breaks us apart, and how the past’s thumbprint rests on the present. Tender, violent, and alive, it’s also unforgettable.”
-Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You
"This beautifully wrought novel is a sometimes wrenching but ultimately uplifting story of murder and betrayal in the face of faith, family in its truest sense, and—most of all—love.”
-Booklist, starred review