Release Date: August 27, 2024
Size: 6 x 9
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-57869-175-3
eBook ISBN: 978-1-57869-176-0 Click Here to purchase the eBook
Library of Congress Control Number: 2024909937
Booksellers and Libraries: Order Info Here or at Ingram.

SYNOPSIS

As a 28-year-old farmhand, John Gauthier falls in love with both the farmer’s wife and her sister, forcing them each to face the question: Do I follow my heart or do the right thing for my family? In an attempt to right an impossible situation, John leaves the hardscrabble dairy farm and turns to the church, becoming a Roman Catholic priest. As the head of Sacred Heart parish he struggles with a church council more interested in getting bodies in the seats than helping the needy. He pines for his unrequited loves while nurturing his passion for writing and literature, and faces a new question: What happens when faith, or love, is not enough?

Following the arc of John’s life between 1929 and 1982 in rural Vermont, Some Things Aren’t Meant to Be is a love story, a coming-of-age story, a story about faith in God, and a celebration of literature and writing.

PRAISE

“Cobb ably integrates themes of growth, individuation, and faith, and raises questions about what it truly means to love oneself, to love others, and to love God. Along the way, it engagingly asks readers to explore ideas of commitment, devotion, and family. …A touching work that follows one man’s lifelong pilgrimage towards love and selfhood.”

–Kirkus Reviews

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“Emotional honesty and a keen understanding of people and relationships are combined in this moving and deeply satisfying new novel by Peter Cobb. Beautifully written, Some Things Aren’t Meant to Be tells the story of John Gauthier…from his early days in 1929 working on a Vermont dairy farm and in love with the owner’s wife to his later life as a Catholic priest in the early 1960s. With themes of buried love and striving to do the right thing, the story skillfully spirals outward from the farm and back again.”

–Catherine Drake, author of The Treehouse on Dog River Road

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“Some Things Aren’t Meant to Be is a lovely, bittersweet romance, grounded in sharply accurate depictions of a hardscrabble Vermont dairy farm and a rural Catholic diocese. It is well-written, believable, and compelling.

–Tom Slayton, editor-in-chief of Vermont Life (1986-2007) and author of Searching for Thoreau: On the Trails and Shores of Wild New England and other books

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“An impressive blend of a coming-of-age tale and a later-life examination of what one has become. Cobb surprises with his knowledge of farm life, his store of childish pranks played on priests and teachers, and his ability to mold his main character. The writing is polished, engaging, and entertaining in the best sense of fiction—appealing characters and interesting stories. It’s a fine effort.”

–Allen Gilbert, journalist, teacher, ACLU-VT executive director, and author of Equal is Equal, Fair is Fair: Vermont's Quest for Equity in Education Funding, Same-Sex Marriage, and Health Care

reviews & In the News

The Times Argus, August 24, 2024: A higher calling: Barre Town author pens second novel

The Times Argus, August 23, 2024: Times Argus Community News: Book Releases

Meet the author

J. Peter Cobb is the author of two novels, "To Alice," about boundary issues faced by hospice and home care workers and "Some Things Aren’t Meant to Be," the story of John Gauthier, a man at the center of two love triangles who seeks a purpose-driven life and becomes a Roman Catholic priest. Prior to his retirement, Cobb was the director of the VNAs of Vermont for thirty-three years. He lives in Barre with his wife Cindy. Visit his website, www.jpetercobb.com.