Blue Water: A Novel

By A. Manette Ansay

Book Overview

New York Times bestselling author A. Manette Ansay delivers the unforgettable story of two families united by tragedy -- and one woman's deeply emotional journey toward a choice she'd never thought possible On an ordinary morning in Fox Harbor, Wisconsin, Meg and Rex Van Dorn's lives are irrevocably changed when a drunk driver slams into Meg's car, killing the couple's six-year-old son, Evan. In a town in which everyone knows everybody else, it's no surprise that Meg and the driver, Cindy Ann Kreisler, were once the best of friends. Now, as Meg recovers from her own injuries, she and Rex find themselves unable to cope with their anger and despair, especially after Cindy Ann returns -- with a mere slap on the wrist -- to the life she lived before the accident: living in a beautiful house, enjoying her own three daughters, all of whom walked away from the accident unharmed. Mornings, we woke with an ache in our throats, a sourness in our stomachs, that had nothing to do with Evan. The truth was that, with each passing month, he was harder to remember, harder to see. I felt as if I were grasping at the color of water, the color of the wind or the sky. And this only made me angrier. My mind returned, again and again, to Cindy Ann, to what she'd done. When I passed Evan's room, the closed door like a fist, I thought about how Cindy Ann had destroyed us. When I saw other people's children, I promised myself that someday, Cindy Ann would pay. In their rage and grief, Meg and Rex buy a boat to sail around the world, hoping to put as much distance between themselves and Cindy Ann Kreisler as possible. Adrift in the company of other live-board cruisers, Meg tries to believe that she and Rex have left their bitterness behind. But when she returns to Fox Harbor for her older brother's wedding, she is forced to face the complex ties that bind her to the woman who has wounded her so badly. For, as Meg knows better than anyone, Cindy Ann has secrets and sorrows of her own, dating back to the summer of their friendship. Impassioned, insightful, and beautifully written, Blue Water is the story of people learning to face the unthinkable -- a compelling affirmation of the human potential for forgiveness, redemption, and grace.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0688172873
• ISBN13: 9780688172879
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: William Morrow
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.06 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 1.0" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Wonderful book you can't put down

I loved this book. It captured me from the first page and wouldn't let me stop reading until I was done. The characters are so well developed and real that the reader feels like you really know and understand them. The story was well developed and took readers on a great journey.

TESTING THE LIMITS OF LOVE AND GRIEF

Five WONDERFUL Stars!! BLUE WATER is a beautifully written novel full of charged emotion and deep sensitivity. A horrible accident involving two families leaves one family in unassuaged grief. In the case of both families, whose wives were once best friends, life must go on, but how? A change is dictated and the grief-stricken family makes it happen by leaving town and taking to the "blue water". In the process they leave the locus of their problem and attempt to let time do the healing. But the departure is not clean and neat, issues remain. Their journey becomes a remarkable story that will captivate and mesmerize the reader. Chapter 1 of Blue Water is as mesmerizing a chapter of writing as I have read this year, defining and pushing the storyline along briskly, taking us from the 'solution' to the heart-wrenching 'problem' and back again. The final resolution, if one can call it that, is true to life, and the final scene had me holding my breath.... This novel reminds me of the phrase: "you can run but you can't hide". Indeed! Brilliantly written and Highly recommended!! Five Stars! (Notes: *This review is based on an EBook digital download in Adobe Reader 7. Save a tree, download your books when possible. * With "Blue Water", I have placed A Manette Ansay on my literary "watch list" and I look forward to her future books. Because of "Blue Water", I recently bought a paperback of her novel, "Vinegar Hill" and it is my next read.)

One of the best

A story of loss and the devastation it reaps is poignantly and beautifully written. Having lost my son five years ago and been given many books to comfort and soothe, this one is authentic and really nailed what it is like better than most. The book is honest and redemptive. I highly recommend it!

The Best Novel I've Read Yet

Typical of her novels, Ansay writes in memorable, intricate, edgy scenes that live with the reader long after the book is put down. This is her best yet. I'm buying Blue Water as gifts for several friends and family.

Powerful, impassioned and beautifully composed

Blue Water is a powerful story of love and loss and the myriad complexities that surround them. The book is written in an exquisitely beautiful and compelling prose, a style that continues to earn praise for Ansay as of the best contemporary fiction writers out there.