Sunrise by the Sea: A Little Beach Bakery Novel

Written by Jenny Colgan

Narrated by Catrin Walker-Booth

New York Times bestselling author Jenny Colgan returns to the setting of her beloved Little Beach Street Bakery series for a timely and heartfelt novel set in a Cornish seaside village.

Marisa Rosso can’t understand why everyone else is getting on with their lives as she still struggles to get over the death of her beloved grandfather, back home in Italy. Everyone loses grandparents, right? Why is she taking it so badly?

Retreating further and further from normal life, she moves to the end of the earth—the remote tidal island of Mount Polbearne, at the foot of Cornwall, hoping for peace and solitude, whilst carrying on her job as a registrar, dealing with births, weddings, and deaths, even as she feels life is passing her by.

Unfortunately—or fortunately?—the solitude she craves proves elusive. Between her noisy Russian piano-teaching neighbor, the bustle and community spirit of the tiny village struggling back to life after the quarantine, and the pressing need to help save the local bakery, can Marisa find her joy again at the end of the world?

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Jun 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9780062911346

Jenny Colgan

Jenny Colgan is Scottish born and bred, born in Ayrshire in 1972. After graduating from Edinburgh University, Jenny worked for six years in the health service whist moonlighting as a cartoonist and doing stand-up in the outer fringes of London’s comedy circuit.

Reviews for Sunrise by the Sea

[Suzanne Kelley · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Cute story, excellent narration. I found myself laughing out loud at times!

[christal · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I Love all things Jenny Colgan and this book is especially heartwarming. The audio production is great.

[Camille Walker · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

LOVED IT ALL! A lovely story by one of my favorite Authors, charming & interesting characters, and an EXCELLENT Narrator!! It was a pleasure listening to this audiobook

[twink_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Oh, I am always so excited when I see that Jenny Colgan has a new book coming out! Her latest - Sunrise by the Sea - has just released. (And I've already finished it!)Colgan has a number of series on the go - Sunrise by the Sea is the fourth in the 'Little Beach Street Bakery series. This latest akes us back to the wee Cornish island of Mount Polbearne. Don't you love the cover shot of all those colorful seaside houses? I think (no, I know!) I could very easily live there. The scenery is lovely, but it's those who live there that make this series so heartwarming. Polly (the owner of the bakery) is of course there, along with her husband Huckle and their twins Daisy and Avery. The twins have grown and their dialogue is priceless. Another member of their household is Neil the puffin - a reader favorite! It's always lovely to catch up with returning characters - I feel like I'm catching up with old friends.But, this book belongs to Marissa. Her beloved grandfather has died and she doesn't seem to be able to move on with her life, retreating more and more into herself and away from the world. Through a set of circumstances she ends up in Mount Polbearne in a wee rented house. It's quiet and peaceful - until a new tenant moves in next door.Colgan has done a great job depicting Marissa's illness, it's written with care and is believable. I'm sure we've all felt like Marissa at some point in time. I loved Marissa's online Skype relationship with her grandmother in Italy. (And I missed mine all the more) And it wouldn't be a Jenny Colgan book without a romance (or two). That new neighbor? Interesting. Loud. Annoying. The will they, won't they, yes, no, maybe so, romantic plotlines are always great fun. And the descriptions of food? Mouth watering!Mount Polbearne is that place you'd want to live - and the better part of that would be down to the residents. They're caring, quirky and community driven. Barring moving to Mount Polbearne (it is indeed fictional), I'm quite happy to visit in the pages of Jenny Colgan's imagination. Another heartwarming, addictive, escapist, just lovely read from Jenny Colgan. I loved it.

[tatoosh-3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sunrise by the Sea is the fifth book in the Little Beach Street Bakery series by Jenny Colgan. I had not read any of the earlier books in the series and found the beginning confusing. Chapter one introduces two married couples, two children, and a puffin in rapid succession without context or backstory. Chapter two turns abruptly to a wealthy, immature playboy and Marisa, who refuses to leave her room and join him at a party. The six adults live in a different part of the UK and have no obvious relationship. I was tempted to DNF.However, after the ill-conceived beginning,Sunrise settles into an entertaining but uneven story. Marisa is agoraphobic and clinically depressed. Once this becomes clear, Marisa becomes a sympathetic character, and I rooted enthusiastically for her recovery. The precipitating causes of her situation and the events leading to her gradual return to health are not convincing. Still, Colgan avoids the standard literary depiction of the therapist as a buffoon. The story includes a romantic subplot, but the focus is an upbeat, optimistic account of Marisa’s gradual recovery. The relationship between Marisa and her grandmother was particularly appealing.Sunrise drags at points with long digressions that do little to advance the plot. For example, the descriptions of Marisa’s skill in the kitchen remind me of the long lists of esoteric ingredients and extended procedures that accompany recipes in gourmet magazines like Food and Wine. An editor’s firm hand and discriminating eye could have corrected many of these problems.The weak conclusion bookends the unfortunate beginning. I had the impression Colgan didn’t know how to bring the story to a close and resorted to a literary cheat (i.e., the magic solution). The rich guy mentioned briefly in the first chapter and in passing after that solves the financial woes and fulfills the desires of the central characters. Despite the shortcomings I have noted above, this is an entertaining story populated by likable characters.

[murderbydeath · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not at all the book I was expecting, but an interesting one. There’s an “outro” at the end of the book by the author, explaining how it wasn’t quite the book she expected it to be either, and explains why.Without spoiling the author’s attempt to avoid spoilers, I’ll just say this is a book about long-term grief and how it can turn into something altogether different and how Marisa finds her way out of it with the help of a small Cornish island. Colgan addresses agoraphobia and how it tears Marisa away from her family and friends as she becomes ever increasingly isolated. How her roommate kicks her out for being such a drag and she finds a home on a tidal island off the Cornish Coast that’s a perfect hideaway for Marisa, except for the Russian piano instructor living next door who teaches and practices all hours of the day and night. Between the Russian, her therapist and her Nonna back in italy (the latter two converse with her via Skype/Zoom), she slowly finds ways to break the cycle of isolation and reconnect with people.This is a book that manages to be neither perky nor heavy; respect is given to Marisa’s struggles without drowning the reader in it. It’s light without being fluffy. There’s obviously a back story with the secondary characters; I’m assuming this is part of a series that takes place on this island, but it never interfered, or left me feeling as though I missed something. I’m guessing Sunrise by the Sea is marketed as a romance, but I’d argue against it. There’s a romantic connection at then end but the rest of the book is about Marisa’s recovery with occasional side-forays into the financial struggles of Polly and Huckle (whom I’m assuming starred in a previous book).An enjoyable read – not quite what I was looking for, but it held my attention nonetheless.

[Kai · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wonderful narration. And such a human book with the true complexities that come within the scope of human life. Refreshing and touching story

[mchwest · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I just love Jenny Colgan's writing and development of these Little Beach books. She never misses the mark on different plots to suck you in and not want to put the book down until you are done. You also have to pay attention to her OUTRO, instead of INTRO, explaining the change she made to the story because of the pandemic. Bless her for that, and I can't wait to read more from her.