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At the Water’s Edge

At the Water's Edge Book Cover At the Water's Edge
Sara Gruen
Fiction
2015-03-31
368

In this new novel from the author of Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen again demonstrates her talent for creating spellbinding period pieces. At the Water's Edge is a gripping and poignant love story about a privileged young woman's personal awakening as she experiences the devastations of World War II in a Scottish Highlands village. Madeline Hyde, a young socialite from Philadelphia, reluctantly follows her husband and their best friend to the tiny village of Drumnadrochit in search of a mythical monster--at the same time that a very real monster, Hitler, wages war against the Allied Forces. What Maddie discovers--about the larger world and about herself--through the unlikely friendships she develops with the villagers, opens her eyes not only to the dark forces that exist around her but to the beauty and surprising possibilities. From the Hardcover edition.

 

Review:

The beginning of “At the Water’s Edge” was only worth three stars, but the second half of the book redeemed it enough for me to round-up to four stars.  It is well worth sticking it out through the sluggish beginning to see where the story leads.

As I said, the beginning was a bit sluggish, but I believe most of the problem came from the extremely irritating nature of the main character, Maddie, along with her husband, Ellis, and her friend, Hank.  I can understand why the author portrayed her the way she did, but I feel like it may have been a better choice to soften Maddie’s character just a little, as it is very well possible that many readers will give up before learning more about why she is the way she is.

The plot is a unique one featuring the Scottish Highlands, WWII, high society, and the Loch Ness monster.  Once all of these elements combine the pace picks up and “At the Water’s Edge” becomes nearly impossible to put down.  I loved the way things unfolded, as well as the details of life during the war in that area of the world that were sprinkled throughout.  As a historian, I appreciated that Sara Gruen made the facts fit with what the characters would know at the time, which were inaccurate in many ways, giving it a very realistic feel.  I also highly appreciated the author’s note at the end clarifying the real facts and numbers that time revealed to be true.

Overall, in spite of the problems at the beginning, I can still recommend “At the Water’s Edge” for anyone looking for an engaging read.  The reward is worth the trouble of getting there.

This review is based upon a complimentary copy of the book provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

 

Content Warning:

Content warnings are not included for books intended for adult audiences.