Barbara Delinsky - Coast Road

Coast Road [067-011-5.0]

By: Barbara Delinsky

Synopsis:

In the famed romantic tradition that only Barbara Delinsky can deliver, you'll meet emotion-packed characters who make you forget whatever it was you were doing before you picked up Coast Road. In this story, workaholic Jack McGill is brought to his knees when he learns that his ex-wife Rachel is in a coma after a car accident. When he rushes to her side to be a dutiful father to his children, he is met with abrasive verbal abuse not only from his children, but also from Rachel's best friends. By the time the doctors tell him they don't know how long Rachel will be in the coma, Jack has reacquainted himself with his children, and fond memories have surfaced of his ex-wife and her creative artistic talent. Through Rachel's best friend, Katherine, Jack learns about a secret Rachel had hidden from him during the days they were married. The secret, revealed through artwork, is one of the many factors that thrust Jack into "introspection mode." He reevaluates his life, digging deep into his heart's desires, and decides to quit his job and stay at Rachel's side, even if she never wakes up. Coast Road deals with some very difficult subjects, such as miscarriage, divorce, traveling husbands, breast cancer, and the ramifications of living in a coma. However, once you get past the research exposition and the bantering, you'll laugh and cry (a lot) at what this once-separated family goes through. Delinsky paints vivid pictures of Rachel, who remains in a coma for about 99 percent of the book, but you'll see that it sometimes takes a life-threatening accident to rekindle the fires of love.

ALSO BY BARBARA DELINSKY Three Wishes A Woman's Place Shades of Grace Together Alone For My Daughters Suddenly More Than Friends The Passions of Chelsea Kane A Woman Betrayed BARBARA DELINSKY Coast Roas A NOVEL S M O N & S C H U S T E R .

SIMON & SCHUSTER Rockefeller Center I230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright C) 1998 by Barbara Delinsky All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

SIMON & SCHUSTER and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster Inc. Designed by Jeanette Olender Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Delinsky, Barbara.

Coast road: a novel / Barbara Delinsky.

p. cm.

1. Tide.

PSR S SA.EAA27C6& ICO8

813.54dC21 98-24lI3CIP ISBN 0-684-84S76-8

ISBN 0-684-85575-5 Signed Edition / I

Acknowledgements:

Coast Road was born of three things I admirethe Big Sur coast, people with artistic ability, and men who rise to the occasion. My own instinct as a woman, plus an annual trip to Big Sur, helped with research into those things, but there were other elements of the book that required outside expertise.

I wish to thank Nancy Weinstein, nurse-educator of the Critical Care Unit at the Newton Wellesley Hospital, for the generous sharing of her time, knowledge, and imagination. Likewise, and not for the first time, my thanks to Margot Chamberlin for advice on the nuts and bolts of being an architect. For their help framing Rachel's pieces, I thank Renata, Rob, Chris, and Steve, of the Renjeau Gallery. For her assistance, her ear, and great color, I thank Barbie Goldberg.

As with any large project, some things inevitably hit the cuttingroom floor. Although none of the 1950S trivia that Elaine Raco Chase sent made it into this book, I am grateful for her tireless efforts. Nor did anything of Pukaskwa make it into Coast Road, despite the generous contributions of Margaret Carney, writer, naturalist, and friend; and Bob Reside, Park Warden, Pukaskwa National Park. I was deeply impressed with the beauty and isolation of Ontario, north of Lake Superior, and imagine that it will appear in a future book.

My book group. Ah, my book group. How long have I talked about writing its story? The full focus that I had initially intended went the ; D/ ,1 way of 1950S trivia and Ontario, but what remains is true.

No, no, guys.

Don't look for yourselves in any of my characters. I promised I wouldn't, and I didn't. I do believe, though, that you will identify with the deeper meaning of the group, as do I.

Again and still, I thank my agent, Amy Berkower, who has worked nearly as hard on this book as I have. I am also grateful to her partner, A1