Frankie's Place: A Love Story

by Jim Sterba

"To Sterba, his beloved's cabin is an enchanted castle by the sea, and like its fairy-tale prototype, Frankie's place imposes mysterious laws and rituals, which the aspirant must master before he is deemed an acceptable consort. His prize is, indeed, a woman of daunting attributes: 'She was blond, tall, beautiful, smart, famous, and scary.'" -The Los Angeles Times Book Review

A Tracy-Hepburn romance in which a down-to-earth newspaperman charms a New York sophisticate and brings her down a notch, while she teaches him a thing or two.
Frankie's Place, A Love Story, is a portrait of a place and a marriage. It's about a sophisticated, blond New York City intellectual who falls for a Michigan farm boy turned foreign correspondent.

Every year after the long Manhattan winter, Frances FitzGerald, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning Fire in the Lake, heads north to Mount Desert Island to spend the summer writing. Her simple cottage looks over a cove, part of Somes Sound, which is full of sailboats and lobster buoys. People come to visit and one year Jim Sterba, an acquaintance, comes to for a week, and then the next year it's two, until gradually he becomes a fixture in her life for the whole summer.

The story chronicles one particular summer that Jim and Frankie are spending at Frankie's place, a spot Jim considers "the perfect writer's retreat." "Frankie's place couldn't be special to me without Frankie. The cozy house, the woods and water, the lovely views and the extraordinary island were part of a stage on which our relationship grew...."

Immediately upon arriving, they start the summer with a swim in the icy ocean, and a morning plunge will begin every day thereafter. Sterba charmingly depicts their busy routine in Maine of writing straight through the core of the day, and filling late afternoons-at four o'clock all work stopped-then there are arduous hikes, blueberry-picking, mussel-gathering, and scavenging for mushrooms. Wonderful recipes including ingredients from the fruit of their labor appear throughout the book-this is true Yankee cooking with corn roasted fully husked in the oven, and Frankie engaged in the gruesome art of killing the lobster.

Jim loves everything quirky, odd, and old-fashioned about the nearest village to the house - from its bizarre Camden Marine Radio where he eavesdrops on lonely fisherman speaking out into the night, to its weather station which monitors the constant push and pull of frontal systems that affect the delicate coastline, to Mr. Pyle, who is at once the town's cop, the librarian, and part-time soda jerk.

Interwoven are flashbacks - we hear about Sterba's burgeoning career as a journalist, his intense years as a foreign correspondent for The New York Times and why he switches to writing for The Wall Street Journal. Growing up on a struggling dairy farm in Michigan, young Jim was responsible for all the strenuous and constant farm chores. In stark contrast, Frankie's family goes back to the earliest settlers of Boston. The Parkmans and the Peabodys are from Boston (including Endicott Peabody, founder of the Groton School), and the FitzGeralds are of New York. Her mother, Marietta Tree was a socialite and a big Democrat, who was married first to Frankie's father, CIA operative Desmond FitzGerald, and then to an Englishman Ronald Tree. Frankie's life as an only child, spirited between ritzy Manhattan and a grand estate in England, was lonely. At one point, she told Jim that while living in the English castle Ditchley, it was so large she could never find her mother in its twenty-six bedrooms. So, Frankie's house becomes a place for both of them to find substantive rest, spiritual space, and loving comfort. It is for both their first real home.

As fall approaches, Jim and Frankie head back to New York for their "second autumn" (New York's leaves turning later than Maine's), and for a long winter in a new apartment where they have finally moved in together. Previous years had gone by where both were unable to give up their old digs, essentially overgrown work places. The book closes with a conversation Frankie's Uncle George is having with Jim, Frankie, and a few others about the family burial plot. A family stone of red granite with the inscription-Peabody--has been placed there, bayberry bushes have been planted, and Uncle George mentions a space available and asks whether Jim would be interested. Jim is completely taken aback. He can't imagine any other place he would want to be forever. He says yes.

Frankie's Place is the generous portrait of both a place and a marriage that Sterba develops with wry, loving detail.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography Memoir, Travel, Modern

288 pages, Paperback

First published June 5, 2003

Reviews

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful… quiet ….literary fiction…. calm ….. wonderful awesome experience…
It might not be enough action for some folks …..
But for me …. it was heaven!!!!
Review soon …..
……it’s LAZY SATURDAY around our house today!

Review ….. I raised from 4 stars to 5 stars. This story will stay with me.

The blurb:
”One summer Jim Sterba veteran war correspondent, accepts
an invitation for a weekend visit from a woman he barely knows, Author Francis FitzGerald. He arrives and discovers a secluded little house on the main coast, with evergreens and blackberry bushes all around, views of forested mountains, and a fjord full of seabirds and sailboats.
In this Tracy-Hepburn romance, the down-to-earth
newspaperman charms the sophisticated New Yorker while their long path to real love has us cheering them on as well as itching for a visit to Idyllic Mountain Desert Island”.

I included the blurb - because it sufficiently lets readers know this is not a heavy-action-packed-heart-stopping-thriller-ride-in any shape or form…..

Franke’s place was on the biggest island on the Maine Coast….a beautiful island with interesting history about Mount Desert Island, Acadia National Park, and the Maine Coast.

A beautiful book …….gorgeously written ….highly imagined….reflective….meditative… filled with fascinating history, geology, personal family backgrounds, summer island visits, walking, swimming, sailing, cooking, (recipes included throughout), eating, berry picking, edible mushroom picking, whale watching, writing, (stories about Frankie’s writing and Jim’s as a journalist),reading, afternoon quiet writing/working time, community gatherings, local trips to boutiques and art galleries…..naked early morning swimming in the chilly sea ocean….etc.
The stories and all its ‘feelings’ just might bring back summer memories to readers….
I’ve never been to Maine - Mount Desert Island …..but summer memories came back anyway —yet, don’t get me wrong - I’d love to visit Maine…
And …..
if nothing else —“Frankie’s Place” is surely to open readers LOVE CHAKRA ….
…..our compassion, empathy, appreciation for the rustic simple way of living, where love perfumes the air inside and outside.
While we are reading….. our emotional hearts are naturally becoming a little less blocked.
For me — I just couldn’t be a ‘mean-nasty-critical-machine’ while reading this story > transported to ‘Somes Sound’.
Note:
I’m really glad I read it - instead of listening to it. It was too private and intimate for audio-listening in my opinion.
By reading it —— I felt such gratitude for my own simple life with Paul ….home a lot …. just the two of us a lot.
But when we do invite friends over — I related to the ways Jim and Frankie felt ….”Friends over was a gift” — a time to play - let go - celebrate our relationships - eat - drink - stay up late talking ….
Then treasure our quiet time, again, together, and our individual daily routines ….basking in the afterglow of friendship-connecting ….cherishing our quietness - as a couple - after everyone goes home.

I really feel blessed- uplifted - lighter - when I read a quiet book like this.
I sincerely thank other readers who have taught me the value of such books. Over the years - age - growth - experience - time -
I notice my own reading choices continue to shift - then shift again. And isn’t this one of the side benefits of reading. Watching our own growth?
Even writing this review takes a little away from my own ‘quiet-private’ experience…..
but at the same time — this is a review I wanted to write….to share the type of book it is ….( and please forgive me for being too chatty and zealous over a quiet book)…..
but for those who desire these quiet type books (almost autobiographical in nature)…..moments with thyself - I believe a subtle transformational occurrence happens with the reader.

*Beautiful characters in a magnificent setting*.

Nature - beauty- a summer oasis- yummy homemade foods - and LONG LOVE…..in the real sense of the word.

This excerpt sums up pretty nicely how I felt too…(as in reading this book).
“Frankie’s place, the FitzGerald camp, Buddha’s house, whatever you called this nest in th woods, worked its magic on me over the summers, in ways that were difficult to explain. It was more than a summer house. It was a place where we created a life together, a loving home that had been missing for much of our lives”.

Some of the recipes included were for:
Cold Soup recipe
Bean recipe
Frankies corn on the cob
Mussel Stew
Sorrel Soup
Kitchen Sink Pasta
Grilled Chicken
Coral Mushroom Soup
Bouillabaisse
Mussels with Chorizo Sauage
Fried Green Tomato Pried Rice
Renee’s Marinara

More excerpts…..they won’t ruin the experience of reading this book yourself. There is much more!!!!

“Each summer began with a great sense of anticipation, a buildup of energy to splurge on a fresh interlude in the crisp, clean air and green, watery outdoors of the Maine coast. Then we would settle into a routine of writing punctuated by bouts of play”.

“We jumped into Somes Sounds almost every morning, rain, or shine, wind, or fog, from July, till Columbus Day, and beyond, morning after morning, and most afternoons, too, summer, after seven, with a regularity that went beyond habit to the edge of addiction. I say, ‘almost’ because every now and then we would be awakened by an icy, pelting, rain, and Frankie would refuse to budge. But most of the time, it was the morning dip kick-started the day. Visitors and house guests who ventured a finger or toe into the water thought we’d gone mad”.
“The reward for this rigor what is a clear head and a wonderful breakfast. Orange juice, bowls of fresh Maine strawberries and yogurt, toast made with sourdough bread, local blueberry jam, and coffee”.

[Ruth · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was okay but I did not like it very much. The title refers to Mt. Desert island, Maine, where the author summers with his wife, a woman named Francis Fitzgerald. She is also a writer, but I don't know anything about her work.

There is not much plot, which is not a deal breaker for me, but New Yorkers on vacation are not the most intriguing topic. Friends come over, everyone drinks wine on the porch, they repair their old volvo, cook seafood stews, and so forth. It is billed as a love story, but I wouldn't call it that. He does talk about their relationship somewhat, but just as informational backdrop, along with family history. I even started skimming ahead to see if some body dies or something. Mr. Sterba does share the story of reuniting with his biological father, who left he family when he was two.

There is an annoying mini plot of how horrid it is for them to endure someone building a big house next to them. Sorry, I don’t think you can really complain if some one else wants to spend a bunch of money to enjoy the precious harbor views.

The other complaint I have is that there are recipes strewn in. Sterba mentions that these were how the book got started-writing up the recipe and then a lot of explaining of the shopping and collecting of the ingredients. I think he could have omitted them, they are too sparse to be a substantial component. (I am currently reading a book called Miriam’s Kitchen which does the same thing, but it works since the book is focused upon this woman and her cooking.) You won’t learn much from these recipes (most of them are potatoes, onions, etc. in olive oil and go to town with whatever sea creature you want). And they add not much to the narrative. He just as well could have included a knitting pattern for the sweater he was wearing--I don’t really need to know how you cooked the lobster, I’m sure it was great, but who cares? In the Miriam book (I will write more about it later), the writing made me care. Here, I notice he uses “golf ball” size frequently, and move on.

If the book is a love story, it is about his love of the place, which is okay, but I don't really recommend it unless you are a fiend for books about summer people in New England.

[Maria Raynal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book. My husband, who has a wonderful knack for finding lovely literary gems (and is far better read than I) gave this to me. It brings together everything I love, journalism, food and a quiet, well-lived life by the sea.

This memoir chronicles a summer in the lives of the author, a retired Wall Street Journal correspondent, and his wife, and a highly respected author, in their Maine cottage. It is simplicity at its finest, both in the writing and how they spend their days. Also includes a sprinkling of recipes.

In short, a lovely little slice of life story.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a peaceful book. Nice story about summers in Maine.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is something of a memoir. The author writes of summers spent at a cabin his wife built and owns with her siblings rural Northern Maine. It also goes into their past lives,mostly his. Some whining occurs. The book does raise some questions. There is a back porch to the cabin where the author and his wife like to sit and entertain guests. A few feet away are the woods. Each summer they endure the tortures of mosquitoes and black flies and never think to screen in the porch. The author was raised on a small farm in rural Michigan yet had to research how to rid the cabin of mice which they seem to ignore until someone else notices the creatures scurrying around the corners of the cabin. Knowing the raccoon will be visiting their garbage pail, they keep it on the porch, don't even try to secure it and have to deal with the messes. The raccoon doesn't come around often, but it still comes. Raised in the country as I was, I know to keep the garbage away from the house. Screen in the porch and keep the vermin outside where it belongs. Coming inside means taking its life in its own hands. The only people they seem to know are other writers and reporters so over all they don't know anyone really interesting. The book would be better if they did. The author and his wife swim and hike most of the time when they aren't writing or drinking wine. Not that much of a life. But the descriptions are good and there is genuine affection between the couple.
You can skip over huge parts of this book and not miss anything. I read it over a couple of hot evenings.

[Paula Boyce]

This is a light and entertaining book about a couple who fall in love with their summer place in Maine. Both come from broken childhoods and appreciate the uniqueness of the other. They are very health and exercise conscious and love their remote cabin off the beaten bath on Mount Desert Island. Each chapter shares a different outdoor adventure and the reader learns more about the characters' quirks as well as their love and devotion to each other. This is a true story, and Maine readers will be familiar with many of the places where their adventures take place. Highly recommended for a fun read!

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you find yourself longing for a long walk and a little porch time by the water, this book is for you. Witty and well written, I found myself transported to Somes Sound while reading this book. Full of funny anecdotes about local oddities, the author offers insight that is both entertaining and interesting. The book is sprinkled with stories from the author's career as a journalist and, surprisingly, recipes! As an avid vacation cook, I found the addition of the recipes a lot of fun. All in all, "Frankie's Place" is a light, fun read and felt like a mini-vacation in Maine.

[KIM · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully written book about a place I love... Mount Desert Island, Maine.

[Tommy Carbone · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the writing about small town coastal life at a summer camp.

[Claudette Dunk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this memoir is like sitting on a back porch on the Maine coast and rocking slowly and appreciatively as you take in the view. Nothing much is going on. The tide comes in; the tide goes out. Change is on its way to Mount Desert Island in small increments: the houses are getting bigger, so are the boats; a writer reluctantly makes her way from her Remington typewriter to her computer, year-round settlers make way for the summer invasion; cold weather advances inexorably. There is no plot to propel all of this forward. Things just kind of happen—sometimes very funny things, heartwarming things, nostalgic things. I'm not adverse to this; in fact, I quite liked it. But I'd only recommend it to porch-rockers and wool gatherers who are in the mood.

[Kari · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had the pleasure of reading this book in one day, as I made air connections on my way home from Maine. Set on Mount Desert (pronounced dessert), Somme Island and Northeast Harbor, where I had just spent a week, made the book all the more special. Sterba was a foreign news correspondent in the 1970s and 80s, fell in love with Frankie of the Peabody family, and they spend their summers at the family cottage in Maine. Sterba picks out one landmark summer to write about, weaving stories from his past, recipes from the summer, and descriptions of the island.

[Caryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this memoir a lot. Lots of interesting history about Maine and seemingly unimportant trivia but was beautifully written and a nice change of pace. I am sort of surprised that it wasn’t as well liked by others.

[Marty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading about what made this place special to the author. It made me think about the importance of place and what makes places special to me.

[Heather Breslin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautifully written book with absolutely zero point or reason to be written other than if you are someone who knows and loves the island. Otherwise, pass.

[Greynomad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good humor and just an enjoyable book

[Marianne Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet, nostalgic, a little vacation from my mundane day.

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the writing style. It made me yearn for those summer experiences not here in California.

[LaurReads · Rating 1 out of 5]

Have you ever bought a book solely because you had a specific, personal connection to the title? I've done this twice now: Colleen Hoover's November 9 (because that's my birthday!), and now this book, Frankie's Place. My wonderful mother, who passed from Alzheimer's in 2021, was named Frankie. Like my own name, I've never come across another (female) Frankie and certainly not a book titled with her name, so I just had to have this on my shelf. Once I got into the book, I was also delighted to find Frankie's last name is Fitzgerald, my mom's sister's last name. Sadly, the serendipity of the names is about where my interest in anything about this book ends. This book started as a cookbook in which the author collected their recipes and then it grew into recording his day-to-day living with his love, Frankie, in her hideaway cabin in Mount Desert Island in Maine. This book is clearly as much (if not more) of a love story between the author and this island as it is with Frankie. Unfortunately, this story was not told in a way that is as exciting as this might seem and confirmed for me why I don't like books written by journalists (this author was a foreign, war and national correspondent) - as their books tend to use close to zero dialogue and excessive, meandering descriptions. There was actually at least one full chapter on mushrooms, types of mushroom, descriptions of mushrooms and the foraging of mushrooms. There's a place for that type of information (like an encyclopedia), but I look for more than information in stories. Where was the feeling, the intrigue? Not much happens, besides a a short aside about the author reconnecting with his long-lost father. I'm sure some might enjoy a quiet book like this where not much besides the passage of time occurs, but for a book that beholds the name of my beloved mother, I expected a lot more.

[Nakya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frankie’s Place is a biography book based on how a little and simple summer cottage,deep in the Main Coast,changed Jim’s point of view .Jim Sterba is a newspaper report for ,the chaotic state of, New York's prestigious newspaper.As he meets Frances FitzGerald ,who is also a writer,Jim spends a more then a couple of weekends at Frankie's place.Without noticing he's love for simplicity has allowed him to reflect on his life.

This book transmits a form of imagery that allows you to smell,see,and touch every single detail that is described.Jim Sterba has done a magnificent job in letting the reader have a better understanding on how the outside environment has impacted his view on simplicity. “We followed a pine - needle path that led through ferns and bayberry bushes,ouching our way over twigs and roots and then past a dwarf juniper to a lichen-encrusted granite ledge above Somes Sound.” (Sterba,10) Jim was able to capture important movement that changed his point of view on the outskirts of the city.

The only thing that I dislike about this book is the unorganized plot.As I read through the Frakie’s Place I would usually find my self lost in between paragraphs.In sections in which clarity wasn't showed I reread and tried to analyze it’s main idea;however the unstable plot didn't allow me to do so.The transition,unexpected,and dysfunctional information is the only thing I've disliked about this inspiring and wonderful biography.

[Ellanor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this book a five because I know the place and love it-Sterba for me has captured the very essence of summer on Mount Desert Island, family and friends. It was very personal-we have walked the same walks, hiked the same climbs, ran out of fuel in the sound or beyond Bakers, gotten lost in the fog on the way home from a night picnic or dinner at Islesford, dealt with neighbors and other dogs and we all buy our tools (and marriage licenses) from Buddy Brown where we compare garden notes-no one can compete with those dahlias, we drank milkshakes at the apothocary, we knew Mr Stanley and Main Street before the great fire that took out the movie theatre-not to be confused with the fires of '08. This was a very special book for me-as I hold it I will always remember being given a copy to read by Bill Foulke in return for a lift to Mt Desert after we found ourselves stranded at Logan on a Friday night in July in the last rental car in all of Boston. We drove with my sister in law Emma, Jamie Gowan and a another friend of a friend listening to the Red Sox play the Yankees on the radio-sort of like the old days, just like Mount Desert.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unassuming and genuine love story--a relationship/marriage and a remote family camp on Mt. Desert Island. Two journalists escape from clamorous Manhattan to a retreat in the woods with a view of Somes Sound. Their daily regimen of stretching, swimming (brrrr!), writing
('typing') between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm, walking/hiking and enter-
taining is enough to daunt the hardiest New Englander. But it's all interspersed with humorous anecdotes of marauding mice, skinny-dipping,
boating, mussel-gathering (recipes included) and cavorting/socializing with the upper-crust of Northeast Harbor. Sterba describes these summer activities with aplomb and tact and successfully mingles with the WASP and native populations.

[Jean · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is written by a reporter from a humble background who falls in love later in life with a woman of privileged WASP background and Mount Desert Island, Maine connections. There's a lot of not that interesting description of summer breaks from NYC spent at the woman's vacation home in Mount Desert Island. If you like the type of book that throws in recipes every so often this may be for you. Pedigree, privilege, and wealth associated with Mount Desert island residents are given a bit too much attention. Why the author fell in love with Frankie is not very clear. An interesting sidelight in which the author reconnects with his long absent father hints at a better book somewhere, but it's not this one.

[Joanne Kilroy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this book thinking it was about a love story between journalist Jim Sterba and his pulitzer prize winning wife Frances Fitzgerald, but it's really about Sterba's love for Mount Desert Island Maine, where Frankie's family has a summer home. He's compiled a beautiful collection of anecdotes, mostly personal but some professional, while telling the story of one season on the Island. I keep thinking that they probably have friends who enjoy his stories who have encouraged him to write these stories down. He has written them beautifully and included recipes when he discusses various dishes he cooks in these stories. This is a very pleasant read.

[Caelea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up at a Friends of the Library sale because I liked the cover...(yes, I know not to judge a book by it's cover, but I thought it was attractive.) Frankie is actually Francis, and she's a writer with a family cottage in Maine. She and boyfriend spend July and sometimes August at the rustic cottage, writing, jumping off cliffs into the Atlantic, collecting oysters, and cooking up lobster recipes. I liked the narrative...it's kind of journaly, kind of travel writing, and the recipes were an added bonus. Reading this made me want to visit the cottage.

[Tara · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't like hating on books but I have to say this one was pretty boring. I can tell when a book isn't doing it for me when I take a long time to read it and this one took really long to finish. The information in it was interesting but I kind felt like I was reading a textbook or broshure on Maine. I was waiting for it to get exciting but it didnt really. My advice might be to skip this one.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was purchased at a small bookstore in Bar Harbor, ME. I returned to Bar Harbor with my elderly mother after my Father passed away. This book is a cookbook, love story and travel guide to Mount Desert Island, off the coast of Maine. Somes Sound runs six miles up the middle of this island and the setting couldn't be any more beautiful than how I remember it as a child. Thank you Jim Sterba.

[Agnes Benis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a delightful love story of two people and the place on the Maine coast where they summer. It is an ode to Maine and a way of life very different from New York City where the author and Frankie live when not in Maine. There are no huge events; it is a memoir about the joy of living; the humor is gentle and the protaganists are good company. It even includes recipes! A wonderful rendition of New England country summers.

[Todd · Rating 2 out of 5]

A surprisingly enjoyable read that is part memoir, part biography, and part cookbook. Sterba mixes his love of history and this cabin in the woods on an island off the coast of Maine.



A lite read that you could put down and come back to like a conversation with an old friend.

[Abbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this, the way the small things (mushroom hunting) and the great things (Tienemann Square) are woven together in this story of two people's "real" (smaller) life and their greater life outside ...

[Raina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first chapter or two is a beautiful ode to a place. The rest of the book is a little less exciting in that it follows the author around in his daily life, but it's still mysteriously compelling, perhaps because of the beautiful, exotic (to me) location.