Port Anna by Libby Buck is a 352 page standalone debut novel published by Simon & Schuster in 2025.

Genre:

Contemporary Fiction, Women’s Fiction

Opening Line:

A mountain of thick, dark water gathered and rose, a froth of white curling at the peak.

My Thoughts:

What a nice little trip to Maine I just took right in the middle of winter! (To clarify, I read and reviewed this book in the winter, and shared my reviews to my blog and Bookstagram closer to its publication date.)

The author’s love for the New England state is abundantly clear in this book. Readers are transported to the coast, complete with a lighthouse, sailboats, and nineteenth century cottages with ceilings of knotted wood and roofs of silvered shingles.

Our main character Gwen left her hometown of Port Anna over twenty years ago in the wake of a personal tragedy. Now in her forties and suddenly without the job and partner she assumed would be hers forever, she returns with her tail tucked between her legs. In Port Anna Gwen spends time confronting her missteps, as well as reconnecting with old friends and making some new acquaintances (including a potential love interest and a runaway teen hiding out in the forest). She begins to build her life anew.

While mostly a contemporary fiction novel, there are dashes of magical realism sprinkled throughout the story as well, most prominently exhibited by the Misses – ghosts of the lesbian couple who built Gwen’s family cottage who still let their opinions on the matters in their home known by making the walls creak and the doors slam. There is also the legend of the woman lighthouse keeper who would dive into the sea to save drowning sailors, and what ultimately became of her.

Besides being transportative, this was a very healing story about meeting ones past mistakes head on and putting one foot in front of the other until one finds their way in the world once again. Much thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my unbiased review.