The Ocean Inside
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4.5 • 4 Ratings
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- $2.99
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- $2.99
Publisher Description
"A beautifully crafted, mesmerizing read which I highly recommend."
--Cassandra King, author of The Sunday Wife
Life changes in an instant. One day, Emmett and Lauren Sullivan's biggest worries revolve around the escalating taxes on their gorgeous Victorian beach house on Pawley's Island, South Carolina. The next, they're facing a devastating crisis.
"It's impossible to not be touched by the honesty and courage the novel--and the author--portrays." --The Sun News (Myrtle Beach, SC)
Emmett and Lauren have always been a team, working together to raise their two daughters. But lately, with all their attention focused on nine-year-old Ainslie, they barely notice as their older daughter, Sloan, drifts further away from them and toward a reckless path that could tear their family apart. . .
"A thought-provoking story that will linger in the reader's imagination."
--The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA)
"A vividly drawn love letter to coastal South Carolina. McMahan's descriptions of the Lowcountry and its unique climate and customs jump off the page."
--Publishers Weekly
"The story is gripping and the characters all too real."
--Booklist
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
McMahan's debut novel is a vividly drawn but uneven love letter to coastal South Carolina. Emmett and Lauren Sullivan's lifestyle has never matched their upper-crust neighbors', but they've been comfortable raising their daughters in their "money pit" of an ancestral home. Then their nine-year-old daughter, Ainslie, is stricken with a rare form of cancer, and the family is plunged into chaos. Suddenly Emmett is battling a recalcitrant insurance company; the stress of caring for a sick child full-time begins to take its toll on Lauren; and 18-year-old Sloan's college plans are in jeopardy. As the parents' financial and emotional problems consume the family, Sloan finds escape with a new boyfriend whose preppy good looks and moneyed charm mask a dangerous streak. McMahan's descriptions of the Lowcountry and its unique climate and customs jump off the page, but her characters and plot have trouble matching the wealth of scenery. There's emotional sincerity and depth, and ample talent for description and pacing, but the eventual payoff and resolution, though unconventional, falls slightly flat.
