Frankie's Place

One summer Jim Sterba, veteran war correspondent, accepts an invitation for a weekend visit from a woman he barely knows, author Frances FitzGerald. He arrives and discovers a secluded little house on the Maine coast, with evergreens and blackberry bushes all around, views of forested mountains, and a fjord full of seabirds and sailboats.

He visits again and gradually falls in love with his host as...