Sea Escape
A NOVEL
“…a multi-generational novel that plucks the heartstrings.” —Entertainment Weekly
—Entertainment Weekly Top 10 book of summer 2010
—Indie Next List Notable
Acclaimed novelist and nationally recognized family expert Lynne Griffin returns with SEA ESCAPE–an emotional, beautifully imagined story inspired by the author’s personal family letters about the ties that bind mothers and daughters.
Laura Martinez is wedged in the middle place, grappling with her busy life as a nurse, wife, and devoted mom to Henry and Claire, when her estranged mother, Helen, suffers a devastating stroke. In a desperate attempt to lure her mother into choosing life, Laura goes to Sea Escape, the pristine beach home that Helen took refuge in when her carefully crafted life unraveled years ago, after the death of her beloved husband, Joseph. There, Laura hunts for legendary love letters her father wrote to her mother when he served as a reporter for the Associated Press during wartime Vietnam. Believing the beauty and sway of her father’s words have the power to heal, Laura reads the letters bedside to her mother–a woman who once spoke the language of fabric; of Peony Sky in Jade and Paradise Garden Sage–but who can’t or won’t speak to her now. As Laura delves deeper into her tangled family history, each letter revealing patchwork details of her parents’ marriage, she finds a common thread. A secret, mother and daughter unknowingly share.
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Praise for SEA ESCAPE
~ Entertainment Weekly Top Ten Summer 2010 Book Pick
~ Indie Next List Notable July 2010
~ Amazon July 2010 Recommends
~ Greater Boston, PBS Summer 2010 Book Pick
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“…struggles, secrets, insecurities, and passions…a deep family mystery makes SEA ESCAPE a fully engaging read!” –Booklist
“…a multi-generational novel that plucks the heartstrings.”
–Entertainment Weekly
“…a perfect summer read”
-Hudson Valley News
“SEA ESCAPE is an extremely touching and nostalgic work of art with an enlightening surprise ending.”
-Fresh Fiction Review
“In SEA ESCAPE, wounds of love, sacrifice, and betrayal are veiled in mystery until the discovery of private letters reveals long-hidden secrets that set a grieving daughter free to forgive her mother, her father, and ultimately herself. With clear vision into the tender complexities of the female heart, Lynne Griffin has artfully crafted a rich, multi-generational story.”
–Beth Hoffman, author of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt
“Lynne Griffin’s SEA ESCAPE is a tender, heartfelt portrait of mothers and daughters: the attention we crave from each other, the secrets we hide, the unexpected ways our wishes are sometimes answered and the walls come crumbling down.”
—Jenna Blum, author of Those Who Save Us and Stormchasers
“Lynne Griffin adroitly weaves the separate truths of two women, a mother and daughter, into the singular, moving story of one family. Peopled with characters who are delightfully complicated and divinely flawed, SEA ESCAPE becomes a novel of faith and resilience as both women risk disillusionment and heartache to unravel a legacy of entrenched secrets. Griffin spins their journey with literary grace and a keen sense of human nature, building to a climax that makes both her characters and, indeed, her readers reassess what it truly means to be a family.”
—Carol Cassella, author of Oxygen