Water Book

With a sensibility and style reminiscent of Alice Hoffman - an exquisite mix of women's righteous anger and edgy humor - Sue Thomas has written a remarkable second novel that is as irresistible and satisfying as a shimmering blast of surf on a hot day. Under the quiet surface of their life together, Ruth and her teen-age daughter Julie struggle with the emotional residue of Ruth's divorce from Julie's father, Simon. Lovers - the proverbial "other fish in the sea" - come and go for both, but Simon's memory survives all comers. Myths of mermaids and mermen and other real and imagined creatures of the water surface and then recede, leaving behind their stories of the seductiveness of the sea. Water flows around and through this novel, spawning both a dream lover for Ruth to eat at her table and sleep in her bed and a dream of revenge for Julie, who cannot forgive her father for leaving. Even as she is distracted by the discovery of her sexuality, Julie is determined to find her father and confront him, and when she does, the resolution is both liberating and devastating. Affecting and enthralling, Water explores unforgettably the territory that lies between betrayal and healing.

Publishers Weekly

A teenage daughter decides to track down and kill the father who abandoned her and her exceedingly lonely mother. (Sept.)