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Summary: Life, Love, and Lobsters
Review: This absorbing family saga (the first volume in the Tide Trilogy) follows the life of its central character, Joanna Bennett, from girlhood to adulthood. Although that hardly qualifies as riveting subject matter, the novel is altogether satisfying on two levels.First, the setting is extraordinarily vivid and crucial to the action. Joanne lives on a small island off the coast of Maine, the daughter of a lobsterman and sister to 5 brothers struggling to earn a living in that same increasingly difficult way. The ocean in all its moods, the ever-present wind, the wheeling seagulls--these and other natural elements permeate the story in such a way that I felt I'd actually been living on the island by the time I'd finished reading the book. Most readers would agree it's a remarkable, and very pleasant, experience to have a book transport you so completely to another time and place. "High Tide at Noon" satisfies on a second level by making the reader care about the characters and what happens to them. Joanna's life as a young girl seems idyllic on the surface, but two men (one of whom she marries) bring plenty of trouble her way in due course. We also get to know the rest of her family, following them, as well, through the ups and downs of their lives--always with the sea and the disappearing lobster catches as background. When the lobster traps keep coming up empty, you care. I count that as an admirable achievement on the author's part. ...I want to find out what happens next. Need I say more?
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