by
Scott is an artist struggling with his art and his identity. In an attempt to rediscover himself, he rents an old seaside house in Nova Scotia for the summer so he can paint seascapes away from the hustle of his life in Toronto. It seems like he might get the vacation he sorely needs, but life has other ideas.
He begins to develop a friendship with Emily, the local bar-owner, but a chance encounter with an old man and the mysterious journal he finds, send Scott down an unexpected road, one full of secrets where a mystery is demanding to be solved.
The van skirted the woodlot and crested the berm. On the right, the full height of the house became visible, revealing first the weathered cedar shingles on its steeply pitched roof, then the deep red clapboard walls with their stark white window and door frames. The glass in the windows reflected the metallic colour of the sky. The shore grasses, still yellow from their winter hibernation, provided the only other colour. Distant fog welded the steel-grey ocean and the clouds into one featureless tableau, rendering the horizon invisible. Small waves crawled quietly up the stony beach, providing the only certain evidence of the water. A line of old timber poles appeared to emerge like ghosts from the greyness, their jagged tops covered with moss—the remnants of a long-lost pier extending into the thick mist.
READ MOREScott parked the van on the patch of hard-packed gravel next to the house, rummaged in the canvas backpack on the passenger seat until he found the key, still in the padded envelop he’d received in the mail, then stepped out and drew in his first deep breath of salt air. He felt elated. He could hardly wait to set up his easel and capture the subtle shades of grey and blue. He knew it was irrational, but he couldn’t help feeling that if he didn’t do it now, there wouldn’t be another opportunity. He tried to commit the scene to memory.
COLLAPSEAmazon Reviewer on Amazon wrote:"I thoroughly enjoyed this story. Small town family mystery is a personal favorite hook, and the fact that it only became more complicated after the death of a major player kept me invested. The driving force of much of the plot is that Scott, while reserved and somewhat awkward, is actually very personable and manages to make lucky connections that open a lot of doors for himself and for the people around him. Because most of what we learn about Joe comes from Scott’s exploration of his journal, it would have been easy for you to filter his story through Scott. Instead, though, you chose to juxtapose Joe’s solitary life with Scott’s seemingly effortless (read: accidental) socialization. … Being able to feel Joe’s personality in his chapters was captivating and the change in voice created a break that made for pleasant pacing."
"This is a sensitively written, intelligent book about people not usually discussed in books, in a place not usually seen. A rebellious teen from a bad family situation veers from bad to worse, but by devoting himself to a duty that he must complete pulls his life up from a downward trajectory. A gal who runs a bar while avoiding life, finds several truths and get her life on track. And a struggling artist pulls himself out of his inward seclusion by taking the time to really see others. The quiet rural landscape of Nova Scotia, contrasting with the constant roar of ocean waves, forms the backdrop for this quiet book and its waves of struggling lives."
