The Bucknoll Cottage Chronicles

THE BUCKNOLL COTTAGE CHRONICLES

Sex and the City meets Under the Tuscan Sun, but no sex, no city and in the Poconos

Paperback/eBook/Audio

  • Paperback available via Amazon 06/01/23 for $9.99

  • eBook on Amazon Kindle 06/01/23 for $6.99

  • Audiobook available via 06/15/23 on Audible/iTunes

    AVAILABLE VIA INGRAM CONTENT GROUP

    ISBN 979-8-9881890-0-8 (paperback)

    ISBN 979-8-9881890-0-5 (eBook)

  • Genre: Memoir, Humor

  • 20 Chapters, 147 pages, audio ~3 hours

The Bucknoll Cottage Chronicles covers the six years that Mary Lowengard owned a cottage in the  mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania. Through wit and grit, she tells tales of the ups and downs of finding, buying, fixing up, living in and (SPOILER ALERT!) ultimately bidding adieu to her beloved country cottage. Topics range from dealing with ticks to power outages to entertaining houseguests to running a yoga program to rodeo etiquette to how to defy a community ban on clotheslines.

Purchase Information

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mary Lowengard is a freelance writer based in New York City. She really did own a country cottage once upon a time somewhere in the upper right-hand corner of Pennsylvania.

Originally published as a series of newsletter columns, these chronicles have been collected in order to spread the joy of the experience of owning a country cottage. Many (most, actually) of the names in the stories have been changed to protect the innocent. The Bucknoll Cottage Chronicles is her first book.

REVIEWS

“Sharp-witted look at a New York writer’s Pennsylvania cottage life.”

— BookLife Reviews by Publishers Weekly, June 29, 2023

With a mix of practical advice, entertaining anecdotes, and welcome wit, Lowengard’s charming and insightful account of a New Yorker’s life in a country house in mountainous Bucknoll Hills, Pennsylvania, will please readers interested in cottage living—or any urban dweller who recognizes the truth in Lowengard’s declaration that “if you don’t feel the urge to leave town at least three times every two weeks, you’re not really living in the City.” In candid and relatable chapters that originated as newspaper columns, Lowengard takes us on her country house journey, sharing amusing stories, personal reflections, and worries about ticks, bears, and those “decluttering consultants roaming the Earth charging the same hourly rates as your estates and trusts attorney.”

“A laid-back, humorous remembrance of a cottage gone by.”

— Kirkus Reviews, May 25, 2023


As Charming as a Summer Cottage

This is the charming little book you didn't know you needed! Good writers can make any scene interesting, and the author proves she's a good writer on every page, as she discusses the joys and difficulties in buying a second home in the Pennsylvania hills. The book is breezy, humorous, and in several places quite poignant.
— John Whitman (Amazon 5.0 out of 5 stars), June 14, 2023


An Absolute Gem

"The Bucknoll Cottage Chronicles" is an absolute gem of a book. From the very beginning, I found myself captivated by the author's ability to weave funny and intriguing stories that kept me eagerly turning the pages. Her adventures in dealing with trash, forming a yoga program to tackle garden weeds, encountering critters and ticks, and even questioning the authority of the HOA by placing stickers on the wrong side of her fender, had me chuckling and nodding along in agreement.
— Marv804 (Amazon 5.0 out of 5 stars), June 15, 2023

Get Ready to Laugh

Superb writing from a razor-sharp comedic mind. Funny. Funny. Funny. This is one of the wittiest memoirs I’ve ever read. If you are in need of several hundred seismic chuckles, look no further. The new country home needed everything but an exorcism, but perhaps Mary Lowengard left that part out. Also enjoyed the rodeo vignette. One negative comment: I awakened my wife up heehawing about carpenter ants the size of Aunt Sally’s Chihuahua. I related to the section and most of the book.
— Lawson (Amazon 5.0 out of 5 stars), June 7, 2023

THE BUCKNOLL HILLS SCRAPBOOK

  • Country Cravings

    My Bucknoll cottage was a little more house than needed.

  • Both trout and house guests tend toward the fetid after a few days.

  • Dealing with detritus requires an advanced degree in waste management.

  • Yoga

    I needed a gardener so I started Bucknoll Yoga, Go figure.

  • What's a cleanout? Mine required 25 plastic bags.

  • Dime versus tick.

  • A night out at the rodeo and I ended up feeling sorry for the calves.

  • Where you stick your Bucknoll Hills sticker says a lot about your politics.

  • When the lights go out, so does your computer, phone and TV.

  • Gardening is a favorite pastime for many. Not me.

  • My scientific survey demonstrates that Bucknollers are game for games.

  • When your cottage becomes your storage unit, call in the Konmaries!

  • The best time to start prepping for winter is in the summer.

  • Naming one's Bucknoll cottage is both art and science.

  • When the carpenter ants invade, it's never one-by-one.

  • I thought a clothesline was against the rules. It wasn't.

  • Why do people take vacations from their vacations?

  • Replacing my antique stove seemed like a good idea.

  • The final photo of my cottage, two days before it was sold.

  • I returned as a houseguest for a simmer visit. The deer were glad to see me!

UPCOMING AND PAST EVENTS

West Hartford Public Library

Noah Webster Branch 6:30 PM

Register here: https://westhartford.librarymarket.com/event/chronicling-bucknoll-author-talk-mary-lowengard-person

January 24, 2024 Author Talk

June 19, 2023 Book Release Party

Alison Restaurant, New York City

Buck Hill Falls, PA

July 29, 2023 Book Signing

CONTACT