By Bary Lyon Terry

Margaret and her husband, Richard, have a home on Boston’s Beacon Hill as well as a summer residence in a small coastal Maine town. Richard, the senior partner in a law firm started by his grandfather, is devoted to his job and, besides sailing, has few other interests. He is troubled by the thought of retirement.

Margaret does volunteer work in Boston and spends summers in Maine, where Richard joins her on weekends. Their two sons have completed college and are now at the start of their adult lives, in 1990. There is continuing family dialogue about law school and the sons becoming fourth-generation members of the family law firm. Both are resisting.

The opportunity for father and sons to participate in a great adventure is at first dismissed as impossible, but eventually they decide to go with it. The results are not as expected, and Margaret’s life is changed forever.

Royalties from the sale of Margaret go to the Bary Lyon Small Fund at Maine Community Foundation to support innovative learning programs. Since its establishment in 2000, 50 grants totaling more than $60,000 have been awarded for athletics, theater, visual arts, music, literature, history, science, leadership, self-esteem, boat-building, environmental concerns, and preschool learning. Funds have gone to schools all over Maine with a slight emphasis on Hancock County.

"The story resonates with me, as we are a mid-fifties couple thinking of retirement. Part of that is concern about our health, what to do after retirement, how will we get along with each other with so much together time, and concerns about our children's future." 

—Comment from an advance reader

Learn more: Click here to read about Bary Lyon Terry and the process of publishing this book from her surviving husband, Donald A. Small.