Teardown: A Love Story

Becky Burckmyer’s world changes radically when her husband of 37 years dies after a ten-year slide into dementia, leaving her heartbroken, alone, in debt, and saddled with a huge, beloved, and completely unaffordable Victorian cottage, situated on a highly desirable piece of waterfront property in the charming and historic seacoast town of Marblehead, Massachusetts. Feeling financially insecure and uncertain what to do next, personally and professionally, Becky reluctantly decides to sell her home-until a local realtor pegs it as a teardown. A teardown? Utterly unwilling to let her house, where she’s lived her entire married life and raised two children, face the wrecking ball, Becky comes up with a plan. She will reinvent herself as the proprietress of a thriving Bed and Breakfast, even if it requires catering to Salem-bound witches and warlocks, chasing small animals out of bedrooms, and hosting nudists on the upstairs deck.Teardown: A Love Story is an inspiring and heartwarming memoir of desperation and heartbreak, rebirth, and resilience. It’s abrave book, wry and unflinchingly honest.