The Last Wave
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
The sea has always been Martha’s escape – first from the sadness and strife of her childhood home, then from the drudgery of life as a wife and mother – but she can never quite escape the pull of love and family, despite her desire for freedom.
Her husband, John, struggles to understand her; their son, Iain, lives in faraway Australia; and they haven’t spoken to their daughter, Harriet, for years – not since she came home for Christmas and announced that she was in love with a woman. When John’s mind begins to unravel, Martha must care for him alone – until she falls ill herself, and wonders how she’ll ever keep her head above water.
Set against the stunning backdrop of Shakespeare’s Bay and the white cliffs of Dover, The Last Wave is a story spanning three generations, from the 1940s to the present day, and encompassing all the grief and joy of family life.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Best's flawed debut follows the life of an English Channel swimmer over six decades. It begins in 1947 in Dover, the coastal town where many cross-channel swims start. Martha is 10 years old when she falls off the pier into the sea and almost drowns. Her father's friend saves her and then teaches her to swim and she is hooked. Over the course of the novel, Martha swims the channel 10 times. The sea is an escape, a comfort, a challenge, and a home for Martha, helping her deal with life's mundane responsibilities and dramatic crises. Though much happens in the story Martha develops cancer; her husband, John, banishes their daughter, Iris, from the family home after she comes out as a lesbian; and John is later diagnosed with Alzheimer's too much of it is taken up by repetition that reinforces character traits but doesn't surprise or flesh out other dimensions of their characters. There often isn't enough build up to the action, and so it lurches rather than flowing smoothly. The book is a good attempt but it doesn't make a big splash.
