About the Book
So here we are in the glorious Hamptons.
Diana Long is an attractive middle-aged widow who rents rooms in her East Hampton home, but she is feeling pressured to make changes in her life.
She loves the Hamptons, but should she sell the house and move on? Should she stay, perhaps settling for just one tenant or housemate, or only rent seasonally?
A retired librarian, Diana is an English as a Second Language tutor and enjoys volunteering for local organizations, like Guild Hall and the Horticultural Alliance. Three Rooms, Shared Bath shows the Hamptons up close, from Hampton Bays to Sag Harbor to Montauk, with real sites and scenes and events, such as Authors Night, the Hampton Classic, and the Shinnecock Indian Pow Wow.
The summer of 2008 is almost over. The Democratic Convention is in progress, with Obama taking the stage. The Beijing Olympics have just ended, and Hurricane Gustav is heading toward Louisiana. The world seems to be changing, but Diana feels she is standing still.
We meet and learn about many tenants, the good, the bad and the ugly, who have passed through Diana's house. These include present tenants: Mark, a rude character in his twenties, Brett, a young architect and exceptionally nice guy, and Basia, a Polish beauty from hell, along with
Diana's good friend, Frank, her Mexican ESL student, Teresa, and others.
Should she make a change? Love enters the picture and that may alter all her choices, as love often does.
About the Author :
EILEEN OBSER holds an MFA in Creative Writing and Literature from Stony Brook University. She also has a BA in Writing and Literature from SUNY Empire State College. Eileen's articles, short stories and essays have been published in The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Washington Post, Newsday Magazine, The Village Voice and, locally, The East Hampton Star. Literary magazines such as Proteus and The Southampton Review have published her work, as have anthologies. A teacher of fiction and non-fiction writing for almost 30 years at colleges, libraries, and conferences, her memoir, Only You, was published as a second edition by Brown Posey Press in 2019. The memoir details the first 20 years of her life, She was born and raised in Glendale, Queens, New York, attended Catholic grammar and high schools, and married a boy from her candy store crowd when she was 18. The year was 1960. Billy and she were two naïve, uninformed teenagers, influenced by social and religious pressures - to disastrous consequences. The marriage lasted two years. Eileen worked for The New York Times Information Bureau in the early 1960s, then remarried and gave birth to two children. While a young mother she attended writing workshops at The New School and at NATAS, both in Manhattan. In 1975 she moved to East Hampton, after a divorce, and has lived there since. She has been both a tenant and a landlady during this time and is at work on a memoir about her East Hampton years. Learn more at EileenObser.com.
Review :
Three Rooms, Shared Bath - what an intriguing title. This is a delightful book, following a widow who decides to rent out three bedrooms in her large house on eastern Long Island. She has interesting renters, some of whom stay for months. And, of course, she has those who are a pain in the neck. Some become life-long friends, and, as goes with the territory, some she needs to kick out sooner rather than later. You get a flavor of the Hamptons in the summer season. But the real joys in the book are the interactions between the landlady and her guests. I enthusiastically recommend this book as simply a pleasure to read. -- James R. Callan, author, Father Frank Mystery Series
"With humor and candor, Eileen Obser reflects on the ups and downs, and many surprises, of renting rooms to people of all ages, backgrounds, and personalities. Landlords and tenants will get (a kick out of it!) -- Debbie Tuma, Hamptons journalist, TV and radio host
"A landlady's life is never boring. From this eclectic group of tenants, she meets some nice people, even forming a lasting connection at times. However, the antics of a few tenants are frustrating and ridiculous. Add an unwinding romance, vivid descriptions of the beautiful east end of Long Island, and you have a story well-worth reading." -- Toni Hallock Betts, writer, Hamptons, New York
"Start this delightful tale with the map, noting Shinnecock Indian Reservation. If you live in the Hamptons, you'll love this book." -- Elizabeth Robertson Laytin, East Hampton author and playwright
