The HomePort Journals

The HomePort Journals begins with a man fleeing an abusive relationship, New York City, and a version of himself he no longer recognizes. Marc Nugent arrives in Provincetown with little more than a bruised sense of self and a vague hope that something might be different here. 

What he finds is HomePort Estate near the tip of Cape Cod, where the land runs out and the Atlantic holds sway. The estate contains the grand Provincetown mansion of Lola Staunton, a fabulously wealthy and fiercely private recluse with a sharp wit, a secret past, and an eccentric household that has become, against all odds, a family. Marc soon meets Dorrie Machado, Lola’s foulmouthed and fiercely loyal octogenarian neighbor. Her estrangement from Lola spans more than sixty years and hides a wound neither woman will name. There is Cole Hanson, a brooding former artist turned handyman. His obvious talent and sullen good looks threaten Marc’s freshly-minted vow to avoid emotional entanglement. And Marc’s first shower is interrupted by Helena Handbasket, an unforgettable female impersonator. She masks her loneliness with humor, costume, and an endless capacity for love.

Marc new position as a gardener has little to do with actual gardening. What it really requires is keeping Lola company, running errands, and becoming slowly, inevitably entangled in the life of this singular household. Meddling, Helena informs him early on, is a winter sport in Provincetown. Marc discovers this is true in the best possible way.

As Marc settles into HomePort, he uncovers a journal hidden for more than half a century. It cracks open a world of long-buried secrets, forbidden romance, and accusations of rape and murder. A decades-long estrangement between two women who were once inseparable begins to make sense. Past and present converge as Marc pieces together a story that mirrors, in unexpected ways, the life he has only just escaped. When his abusive ex-lover arrives in Provincetown seeking revenge, Marc must confront not just the secrets of the past but his own capacity for trust and love.

A Story of Chosen Family

The HomePort Journals is LGBTQ fiction at its most warm and generous. The novel celebrates chosen family, those the communities we build when our birth families cannot or willnot hold space for us. The novel reflects on the particular grace that Provincetown has long offered to those who arrive there in need of a second chance.

A. C. Burch has lived in Provincetown for decades. That intimate knowledge infuses every page. The mansion, the dunes, the saltbox cottages, the off-season quiet, the summer energy, all of it rendered with a love that makes Provincetown itself one of the novel’s most vivid characters.

The LGBTQ fiction community embraced The HomePort Journals from the moment of publication. The novel won the Authors Talk About It grand prize for 2016. That recognition reflected the book’s unusual blend of warmth, mystery, romance, and atmospheric depth.

At its heart, The HomePort Journals is a story about healing. Marc arrives broken and is transformed because the people he meets refuse to let him stay broken. Lola brings imperious manner that mask a maternal tenderness. Dorrie brings crude, honest, fierce loyalty and a staunch independence. Helena brings tragedy, humor, and more perceptiveness than anyone gives her credit for. And Cole brings his own damage, and a slow willingness to let someone in. Together they form a chosen family, made not of blood, but of compassion, loyalty, and love.

The novel weaves in elements that provide additional texture. A ghost story runs beneath the surface, handled with a light touch that adds atmosphere without overwhelming the central human drama. Romance is handled with both tenderness and heat. The old accusations, the estrangement, and the journal’s revelations give the plot genuine forward momentum. And Provincetown is present on every page — the windswept dunes, shifting tides, and luminous light that have drawn artists, writers, and outsiders to this place for over a century.

The HomePort Journals is the first book in The HomePort Chronicles. It introduces the characters and world that continue in The Distance Between Us. The novel stands entirely on its own as a complete and satisfying story. But for readers who fall in love with Helena, Lola, Dorrie, Marc, and Cole, the story continues.

This is LGBTQ fiction that believes in transformation, in the power of community, and in Provincetown as a place where people who have run out of road sometimes find a new direction.